Mark Dion Biography
Mark Dion was born in 1961 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He currently teaches in the Visual Arts Department at Columbia University School of Arts in New York. Dion is known for his complex installations in which he assembles elements of an ethnographic, biological, archaeological and history of science nature, combining them with everyday objects. In this way, the widespread habit of carelessly disposing of objects which, instead, could be appreciated and valorised, is denounced in a provocative manner. Although the topics addressed are challenging in nature, Dion's works always arouse a feeling of wonder thanks to the great attention to aesthetics and the organization of elements within the spaces.
Dion has received numerous awards, including the ninth Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2001, the Lucelia Artist Award from the American Smithsonian Art Museum in 2008, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford School of Art in Connecticut in 2003. She has participated in exhibitions international, such as at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid in 1994, at the Nordic Pavilion of the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997, at the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London in 1999 and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2004. In 2006, the Seattle Art Museum commissioned Dion to create the Neukom Vivarium, a permanent installation and workshop located in the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Among Dion's most famous works are the Cabinets, compositions inspired by 16th-century Wunderkabinetts. In these furnishings, the artist brings together natural finds, imaginary animals, objects found at the flea market and plastic products, creating an authentic chamber of wonders. In 2011 Dion created the project Oceanomania: Souvenirs des Mers Mystérieuses in the Principality of Monaco, which investigates the sea by telling the story of the species that inhabit it and the sadness due to pollution caused by man.
