In 1945, workers at Brown University’s biology department were clearing out storage space when they stumbled on a giant trove of natural and ethnographic specimens and artifacts.
mark dion
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When Snakes Could Walk: Contemporary Artists Take On the Garden of Eden
In a 1483 German Bible, the Garden of Eden is depicted as a corralled green circle; Adam and Even are ejected from its manicured grass to a hilly wilderness, with a trail leading off into the unknown. This idealized interpretation of original sin sits alongside more modern takes on our relationship with our environment in the Museum of Biblical Art’s Back to Eden: Contemporary Artists Wander the Garden.
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The Artistic Influence of an Overlooked Explorer
Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt has his name immortalized on a bay in California, a mountain range in New Zealand, towns all over the world, an orchid, and even a squid. Who exactly this man of wanderlust was, however, remains less familiar. A new exhibition at the Americas Society on the Upper East Side is taking its own expedition into his legacy in the visual arts.
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American Museum of Natural History Launches Online Archives with Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman
This Monday the American Museum of Natural History launched a new digital platform with thousands of images from their archives. It kicked off the initiative with an event featuring two artists who have been profoundly influenced by its collections.
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The Art and Science of the Expedition
SIENA, Italy — Artists like Mark Dion and Amy Yoes have long understood the importance of science, not as an antithesis of art, but as a partner in figuring out what it is we know and how we know it
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My Year in Art: A Top 6
I’d like to start with a disclaimer: Top 5, 10, whatever lists make me nervous. They feel so definitive, so set in stone, and that makes me uncomfortable. What happens when my opinions evolve (as they inevitably will), or when I change my mind tomorrow, or if I accidentally forget something?
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The Ambition and Arrogance of Exploration
Recalling the age of the gentleman explorer in a place that still guards its worn relics, Mark Dion’s Phantoms of the Clark Expedition is an examination of the ambitions of early 20th century expeditions, as well as their arrogance.