Mark Dion introduced his lecture in a lighthearted manner that caused me to be immediately engaged in him. Being an artist who collects objects for his work, Dion descriptively went through all of his installations he created and his collecting processes. The piece he created in Venice from the dredge of the local reservoir was quite comical and full of meaning. This piece required for him to deviate himself from being known as artist/archaeologist. He gathered objects that had been thrown out of homes and windows to them find themselves amongst a lot of waste in the reservoirs below. Once the work was installed, Dion got a call from Officials in Venice about some of the stuff that he found and since used in that Venice installation. They said that he did not have permission to those objects. I found it ironic that up until then no attention was paid to the lost items that lay at the bottom of the reservoir until they were made into a work of art and placed in a museum.
A lot of his work is so striking and intelligent while others are easily accessible on just the surface level. His piece that paid homage to the gulls of England was an over sized gull that towered over everyone on wheels. This comical piece helped shed a happy and friendly aura on the gulls to overshadow their poor reputation. His public art offers knowledge to the surrounding communities while bringing new life to certain objects that are often forgotten.
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