Mark Dion
31 Jan - 14 Mar 2015
© Mark Dion
“Bookstall – The Natural World”, 2015
Holz, Metall, Lack, Bücher, Postkarten, Drucke, Zeichnung,
Schnur, Wäscheklammern
187 x 183,5 x 90 cm
Photo: Simon Vogel
“Bookstall – The Natural World”, 2015
Holz, Metall, Lack, Bücher, Postkarten, Drucke, Zeichnung,
Schnur, Wäscheklammern
187 x 183,5 x 90 cm
Photo: Simon Vogel
MARK DION
Vanishing Wonders & New Curiosities
31 January - 14 March 2015
Since the 14th century prestigious Wunderkammer collections of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie have emerged throughout Europe. They did not differentiate between naturalia and artfefacts or art and craftsmanship. A vast variety of objects could be found therein: silver- and gold work applying coral, pearls and mountain crystals, stuffed animals, big shells, nautilus cups, encased ostrich eggs, narwhal teeth as well as unicorn horns, ivory carvings, literature on alchemy, mathematical-physical or surgical instruments, so-called art clocks or gaming machines, East Asian-Pacific porcelain, various detail work such as carved cherry pits or miniature wood turnings. The centre of interest lay on the fascination for rarities and curiosities that emerged to some extent from medieval folklore, humanist revitalizing of the myths of antiquity and the technical-scientific innovations. In this respect this time is often referred to as the era of awe and wonder. 1
In his current exhibition at Nagel Draxler, Mark Dion puts on display some works that he had previously mixed in with the exhibits of the “Green Vault” in Dresden in his large-scale exhibition “The Academy of Things”. These works imitate classical curiosities, but in contrast rest on a pile of everyday objects cast in tar. Old costume jewelry, coins withdrawn from circulation, small glasses, pearls and other glossy trash of this kind resembling stranded goods or appear to be have been collected by a magpie. Objects that are taken out of the contexts of the lives of their former owners, lost or discarded. Here the notion of astonishment is mixed with the melancholy of loss. The loss of items that once signaled personal and cultural wealth as well as the curiosity towards foreign worlds, both profane and extra transcendent. The horn of the unicorn is hanging down and bleeds, it has lost its magical powers.
The bouquinist table with its long outdated scientific books also belongs to this “lost world”. Not only because today its content fits a thousand times into a kindle in digitalized form. Dealing with objects itself disappears and thus the haptic understanding of the world. Instead digital images emerge and take over its place. We are witnessing a time of material amnesia.
Utilizing the classical displays of pedestals and cabinets as constituent element of his art, Mark Dion conducts a museology of the museum itself: occasionally ironic (the crocodile’s skull with a gold chain between its teeth) as the showcase used to be the tool of choice per se for the museum as bourgeois educational institution.
Since the beginning of his career, Dion’s drawings constitute a substantial part of his oeuvre. Formerly being mostly drafts for later implemented sculptures and installations, they havedeveloped a momentum of their own. The predominant use of blue and red colored pencil makes them appear as a mixture of the signs of plus and minus, surplus and deficit.
This exhibition is not about the mourning for the past but rather a harmony of the opposed states of mind of astonishment and melancholia.
1: Source Wikipedia
Vanishing Wonders & New Curiosities
31 January - 14 March 2015
Since the 14th century prestigious Wunderkammer collections of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie have emerged throughout Europe. They did not differentiate between naturalia and artfefacts or art and craftsmanship. A vast variety of objects could be found therein: silver- and gold work applying coral, pearls and mountain crystals, stuffed animals, big shells, nautilus cups, encased ostrich eggs, narwhal teeth as well as unicorn horns, ivory carvings, literature on alchemy, mathematical-physical or surgical instruments, so-called art clocks or gaming machines, East Asian-Pacific porcelain, various detail work such as carved cherry pits or miniature wood turnings. The centre of interest lay on the fascination for rarities and curiosities that emerged to some extent from medieval folklore, humanist revitalizing of the myths of antiquity and the technical-scientific innovations. In this respect this time is often referred to as the era of awe and wonder. 1
In his current exhibition at Nagel Draxler, Mark Dion puts on display some works that he had previously mixed in with the exhibits of the “Green Vault” in Dresden in his large-scale exhibition “The Academy of Things”. These works imitate classical curiosities, but in contrast rest on a pile of everyday objects cast in tar. Old costume jewelry, coins withdrawn from circulation, small glasses, pearls and other glossy trash of this kind resembling stranded goods or appear to be have been collected by a magpie. Objects that are taken out of the contexts of the lives of their former owners, lost or discarded. Here the notion of astonishment is mixed with the melancholy of loss. The loss of items that once signaled personal and cultural wealth as well as the curiosity towards foreign worlds, both profane and extra transcendent. The horn of the unicorn is hanging down and bleeds, it has lost its magical powers.
The bouquinist table with its long outdated scientific books also belongs to this “lost world”. Not only because today its content fits a thousand times into a kindle in digitalized form. Dealing with objects itself disappears and thus the haptic understanding of the world. Instead digital images emerge and take over its place. We are witnessing a time of material amnesia.
Utilizing the classical displays of pedestals and cabinets as constituent element of his art, Mark Dion conducts a museology of the museum itself: occasionally ironic (the crocodile’s skull with a gold chain between its teeth) as the showcase used to be the tool of choice per se for the museum as bourgeois educational institution.
Since the beginning of his career, Dion’s drawings constitute a substantial part of his oeuvre. Formerly being mostly drafts for later implemented sculptures and installations, they havedeveloped a momentum of their own. The predominant use of blue and red colored pencil makes them appear as a mixture of the signs of plus and minus, surplus and deficit.
This exhibition is not about the mourning for the past but rather a harmony of the opposed states of mind of astonishment and melancholia.
1: Source Wikipedia