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Born 1961 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States

Lives and works in Copake, New York, United States

Mark Dion

Mark Dion is an American conceptual artist best known for his use of scientific presentations in his installations. His work examines the manner in which prevalent ideologies and institutions influence our understanding of history, knowledge and the natural world. The job of the artist, according to him, is to "go against the grain of dominant culture, to challenge perception and convention". By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Dion questions the objectivity and authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society, tracking how pseudo-science, social agendas and ideology creep into public discourse and knowledge production. Some of his well-known works include Neukom Vivarium (2006), a permanent outdoor installation and learning lab for the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, Washington.


Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. Appropriating archaeological and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion creates works that question the distinctions between “objective” (“rational”) scientific methods and “subjective” (“irrational”) influences.


The artist’s spectacular and often fantastical curiosity cabinets, modelled on Wunderkabinetts of the sixteenth century, exalt atypical orderings of objects and specimens. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society.

He has received numerous awards, including the ninth annual Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2001). He has had major exhibitions at Miami Art Museum (2006); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004); the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2003); and Tate Gallery, London (1999). Neukom Vivarium (2006), a permanent outdoor installation and learning lab for the Olympic Sculpture Park, was commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum.

Biography
Selected Works
Mark Dion
Cabinet of Marvels
2019
Mixed media
190 × 130 × 48 cm
Mark Dion
Arbeid Adelt
2020
Ink on paper
62 × 48 cm
Mark Dion
Neotropics
2014
Insect net, used shovel, tree branch and rope
Variable dimension
Arbeid Adelt
December 12, 2020 – February 13, 2021
Brussels
Exhibitions
Texts

POSTCARD FROM GENOVA

with Michael Beutler, Mariana Castillo Deball, Luca De Leva, Mark Dion, Invernomuto, Koo Jeong A, Tobias Putrih, Jorge Queiroz, Tomás Saraceno, Bojan Šarčević, Georgina Starr, Luca Trevisani, Cesare Viel

opening Saturday June 3, 5-8pm

in Brussels, BE

June 3 - July 8, 2023
Waldburger Wouters

ARCO MADRID

shared booth with PINKSUMMER 

with Eli Cortiñas, Mariana Castillo Deball, Mark Dion, Lynn Hershman Leeson & Tomás Saraceno


February 22 - 26, 2023
Madrid
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