Mark Dion

Fragments of Travel: Exploration and Adventure,2007

Edition of 36 signed and numbered copies (the numbers from 1 to 6 are enriched with an original drawing) + 9 A.P signed and numbered from I to IX in roman numerals.

Format size: 26 x 32 cm – 41 pages

Iris prints on various papers- Book quater-bound in buffalo with Zerkall Nideggen paper and Zerkall German Ingres – Chemise and slipcase in Dover cloth and Zerkall Nideggen paper, pop-up books (maps) in full buffalo leather.

Published by &: Christophe Daviet-Thery & XN editions, 2007, Paris.

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© rebecca fanuele

In his installations Mark Dion explores the relationship and distinctions between objective science and subjective art using the language and methodology of the scientific process both present and past in his work.During the construction of the new MoMa,Mark Dion conducted a series of archeological digs and turned his finding into an” Installation Projects 82,Rescue Archeology A Project for the Museum of Modern Art”.His Madison Square Park  “Urban Wildlife ObservationUnit”,fashioned after 19th century wildlife refuge viewing area reflected his interest in ecology while encouraging park visitors to examine closely the local flora and fauna.The fiels station created with the help of park rangers and local naturalist was filled with drawings and objects associated with the park.In the “Tate Thames Dig” (1999),teams of local volunteers collected objects found along the shore of the Thames at Millbank and Bankside (the collection of Tate Britain and Tate Modern).The discoveries were subsequently cleaned and displayed in an old-fashioned double-side cabinet,where they presented a profile of the city through the contents of its geographic and onetime economic center.

In this artist’s book,Mark Dion assumes the guise of an 18th or 19th century scientist who explores an unknown land (he kindly includes a map of this terra incognita)and exhaustively documents the native flora and fauna the bbok was been exquisitely constructed to convincingly carry out this fiction: pieces of paper are die cut and assembled and bound into the book to suggest an impromptu but thorough record of the explore’s discoveries and observations.The Iris prints appear to be convincing facsimile of Dion’s faux-scientific maquette.