Mark Dion

United States, 1961

            With training in visual arts and biology, Mark Dion is a conceptual artist known for his unique approach that combines scientific presentations with artistic installations. His work delves into how ideologies and institutions influence our perception of the natural world and history, challenging cultural conventions. His installations, which often resemble cabinets of curiosities from the 16th and 17th centuries, present unconventional arrangements of objects and specimens.
            Through this spectacular and often fantastic representation, Dion advocates for an art that questions scientific objectivity and established narratives, inviting the viewer to question the authority of science and reflect on how pseudoscience and social agendas influence the production of public knowledge.

His works emphasize how science and culture shape our ideas and use archaeological methods, field ecology, and other scientific techniques to collect, order, and display objects in his works, challenging the divisions between the "objective" and the "subjective" in knowledge.

            In addition to his artistic practice, Dion collaborates with natural history museums, aquariums, and other institutions to explore how knowledge about nature is constructed and presented to the public. His work, such as the permanent installation "Neukom Vivarium" (2006) in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, is an example of his commitment to critical reflection and transforming the perception of the natural world through art.