Mark Dion is a globally recognized contemporary American artist whose work mimics historical or scientific displays; it is often formed through site-specific collaborative efforts and/or the mining of museums, archives or specific geographic areas. Through it, Dion investigates ways knowledge is constructed, classified, and presented revealing the cultural and ideological assumptions behind institutional authority and colonial collecting practices. His art points to environmental degradation and the current global biodiversity crisis as well as the broader subjective nature of truth.

This talk is part of “Entering the Wunderkammer,” a series of events and activities that brings together students, artists and curators to engage with the wide range of topics raised by "cabinets of curiosity." These precursors to modern museums, first popularized in Renaissance Europe, will be the pivot point for lectures and workshops that will interrogate curation as art, art as research, and display as cultural language.