Mark Dion, 2019 Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Environmental Humanities, to speak Feb. 27, 2019

February 27

2019 Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Environmental Humanities
Mark Dion

7:00 p.m., Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building

Mark Dion is an American conceptual artist whose work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. The job of the artist, he says, is to go against the grain of dominant culture, to challenge perception and convention. Appropriating archaeological, field ecology and other scientific methods of collecting, ordering, and exhibiting objects, Dion creates works that question the distinctions between ‘objective’ (‘rational’) scientific methods and ‘subjective’ (‘irrational’) influences. Dion also frequently collaborates with museums of natural history, aquariums, zoos and other institutions mandated to produce public knowledge on the topic of nature. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the objectivity and authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society, tracking how pseudo-science, social agendas and ideology creep into public discourse and knowledge production.

His residency is co-sponsored by the Colby College Museum of Art and the Art Department