Mark Dion exhibition, “the Tropical Collectors”

By taking the place of an amateur scientist, a collector, a historian or a biologist, the artist takes an often humorous but critical look at the relationship between culture and nature.
Mark Dion revives debates on the evolution of natural history, the role of the scientist and the (re)presentation of nature and ecological systems in science, museums, displays or zoos. In deconstructing cultural representations of the natural world, Mark Dion questions our relationship with it today.
His work, which explicitly refers to the cabinets of curiosities, and draws on the history of museums, is not about nature but about the idea of nature. The artist collects ordinary objects and specimens from the living world and organises them into abundant installations. By grouping together elements as diverse as skeletons, naturalized and stuffed animals, plants, labelled jars or books, he creates complex spaces, conceived as microcosms and spaces of scientific fictions.