Arts and Culture of Nature

“Art and the Culture of Nature” aims to foster a better understanding of how artists today can make work engaging the environment in a time of intensifying ecological calamity. The seminar will explore how artists have interrogated the concept of nature from pictorial traditions, through earth art and the contemporary art of environmental engagement.

Art and Culture of Nature is Guided by the artist Mark Dion, students will share work and ideas with each other around their practice as well as discuss readings and research. How does the current global ecological crisis- extinction, climate change, ocean debris, urban sprawl, etc. inform how artists respond to working on the topic of nature will be the fulcrum of the seminar. Understanding how artists have illuminated environmental issues in the past will help participants frame their own practices.
Mark Dion was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1961. He received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program.

Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. 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.

Jeremy Deller

London-based artist Jeremy Deller studied Art History at both the Courtauld Institute and at Sussex University. He has been producing projects over the past two decades and has exhibited extensively worldwide with selected solo exhibitions including: ‘The Infinitely Variable Ideal of the Popular’, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice; ‘It Is What It Is: New Museum, New York; ‘Procession’, Cornerhouse, Manchester; ‘Unconvention’, Centre for Visual Arts, Cardiff, and many more.

Mel Chin

From 1995-1998, Mel Chin spearheaded the Gala Committee, a collective that produced the public art project “In the Name of the Place”, conducted on American prime-time television. In 2018 he filled New York’s Times Square with “Wake”, on the ground, and “Unmoored” in the air; two pieces that transported viewers into a past maritime industry and a future of rising waters. He is the recipient of many awards, grants, and honorary degrees including a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship.

Mark Dion

Mark Dion, a prominent American conceptual artist, is widely recognized for incorporating scientific presentations into his installations. His thought-provoking work delves into how dominant ideologies and institutions shape our perception of history, knowledge, and the environment.

Mark Dion was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1961. He received a BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. Dion received the ninth annual Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2001), The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2007), the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucida Art Award (2008), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2019)

Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. 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. Mark Dion also frequently collaborates with museums of natural history, aquariums, zoos, and other institutions mandated to produce public knowledge on the topic of nature.

Dion’s works include Follies at Storm King Art Center (2019); Theatre of the Natural World at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Misadventures of a 21st Century Naturalist at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (2017); Mark Dion: The Academy of Things at The Academy of Fine Arts Design in Dresden, Germany (2014); The Macabre Treasury at Museum Het Domein in Sittard, The Netherlands (2013); Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas at Musée Océanographique de Monaco and Nouveau Musée National de Monaco / Villa Paloma in Monaco (2011); The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project at Oakland Museum of California (2010–11); Systema Metropolis at Natural History Museum, London (2007); The South Florida Wildlife Rescue Unit at Miami Art Museum (2006); Rescue Archaeology, a project for the Museum of Modern Art (2004); and his renowned Tate Thames Dig at the Tate Gallery in London (1999).[2]

You can watch Mark’s visiting Artist Talk on our Youtube, and check out Art21’s interview with him.

Trevor Paglen

Paglen’s work has been shown at Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Frankfurter Kunstverein; Protocinema Istanbul; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Tate Modern; and numerous other venues. He has collaborated with Creative Time and MIT, contributed research and cinematography to the Academy Award-winning film Citizenfour, and created a radioactive public sculpture to be exhibited in Fukushima, Japan.

Hito Steyerl

Hito Steyerl is a filmmaker, visual artist, writer, and pioneer of the essay documentary. Her prolific filmmaking and writing occupies a highly discursive position between the fields of art, philosophy, and politics, constituting a deep exploration of late capitalism’s social, cultural, and financial imaginaries. Her films and lectures have addressed the presentational context of art, while her writing has circulated widely through publication in both academic and art journals.