This publication focuses on five major works by the American conceptual artist Mark Dion (born 1961). Since the late 1980s Dion has been delving into the tropes and research methods of scientists, explorers, museum curators and archaeologists. He has created a body of work that playfully presents art as scientific inquiry or field work, questioning how knowledge is gathered, classified and displayed. The five installations documented here incorporate diverse subjects such as hunting blinds, heraldic banners and an extraordinary array of objects drawn from the mudbanks of the Thames, Manchester flea markets and American curiosity shops. Beautifully designed with allusions to Dion’s own artistic style, the catalog also features new essays by Gilda Williams and Petra Lange-Berndt, an interview between the artist and Iwona Blazwick and a reprint of a short story by National Book Award for Fiction winner Andrea Barrett.
