Mark Dion
11 Mar - 27 Aug 2011
© Mark Dion
The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile Laboratory, 2006
Mixed media installation, 18 feet, 11 inches x 7 feet, 7 inches x 8 feet, 11 inches.
Collection Miami Art Museum, gift of Lin Lougheed. Reproduced with Permission of the Artist. Photo Credit: Tim McAfee.
The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit: Mobile Laboratory, 2006
Mixed media installation, 18 feet, 11 inches x 7 feet, 7 inches x 8 feet, 11 inches.
Collection Miami Art Museum, gift of Lin Lougheed. Reproduced with Permission of the Artist. Photo Credit: Tim McAfee.
MARK DION
11 March - 28 August, 2011
Miami Art Museum presents Mark Dion’s complete South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit, a large-scale installation that focuses on the Everglades and human attempts to control the South Florida ecosystem. The installation will be on view from March 11 through August 28, 2011 in the Anchor Gallery, a section of the Permanent Collection installation featuring regularly changing presentations of large scale works. The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit was originally commissioned by MAM in 2006 and subsequently acquired by the Museum.
Interweaving the diverse disciplines of art, science, ecology, history, and archeology, Dion’s project consists of three parts, corresponding to the three major periods of Everglades history: exploration and conquest (late 1700s – mid 1800s); scientific discoveries and technological advancements, which lead to plans for populating the area and conducting draining for agricultural use (mid-1800s – early 20th century); and the present, which has been marked by awareness of the devastation caused by human intervention and the need to restore and preserve the area.
The largest component of the installation features a facsimile of the vehicle and equipment of an imaginary agency that rushes into vulnerable ecosystems to save threatened plants and animals: the South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit. This portion of the installation serves as a how-to guide for would-be conservationists, and ironically represents the dream of policymakers’ decisive actions, while also saluting past and current grassroots activism efforts.
11 March - 28 August, 2011
Miami Art Museum presents Mark Dion’s complete South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit, a large-scale installation that focuses on the Everglades and human attempts to control the South Florida ecosystem. The installation will be on view from March 11 through August 28, 2011 in the Anchor Gallery, a section of the Permanent Collection installation featuring regularly changing presentations of large scale works. The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit was originally commissioned by MAM in 2006 and subsequently acquired by the Museum.
Interweaving the diverse disciplines of art, science, ecology, history, and archeology, Dion’s project consists of three parts, corresponding to the three major periods of Everglades history: exploration and conquest (late 1700s – mid 1800s); scientific discoveries and technological advancements, which lead to plans for populating the area and conducting draining for agricultural use (mid-1800s – early 20th century); and the present, which has been marked by awareness of the devastation caused by human intervention and the need to restore and preserve the area.
The largest component of the installation features a facsimile of the vehicle and equipment of an imaginary agency that rushes into vulnerable ecosystems to save threatened plants and animals: the South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit. This portion of the installation serves as a how-to guide for would-be conservationists, and ironically represents the dream of policymakers’ decisive actions, while also saluting past and current grassroots activism efforts.