Mark Dion,
2013

Since the early 1990s, Mark Dion has examined 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, the artist creates work that addresses the distinctions between objective scientific methods and subjective influences. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Dion questions the authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society.

Born in Massachusetts in 1961, Dion received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford School of Art, Connecticut. Major recent exhibitions include his presentation at dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany, 2012 (group); The Macabre Treasury, Museum Het Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands, 2013 (solo); Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas, Musée Océanographique de Monaco and Nouveau Musée National de Monaco / Villa Paloma, Monaco, 2011 (solo); Den, a site-specific installation for the National Tourist Routes, Norway, 2012 (solo); The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, 2010-11 (solo). His newest work, The Curator's Office, is now on permanent display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and another large-scale installation, The Octagon Room, is on long-term view this year at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Dion currently lives in New York City.

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