This singular, large-scale installation continues Mark Dion’s investigation into the blurred boundaries between art, science, nature and the methods of their presentation and interpretation.

The Curiosity Shop confronts the inherent contradictions between the artifact and the context in which it is displayed for popular consumption, in the shape of a haunting, architecturally scaled, rural ‘museum’ of curiosities. In addition, works conceived as an epilogue to Dion’s Rescue Archeology, A Project for the Museum of Modern Art at MoMA shall also be exhibited.

Unlike legitimate archaeological excavations, Dion’s have little scientific value. Often enlisting the assistance of the public in the act of creating his work, Dion demystifies cultural institutions where these processes normally take place and illuminates the strategies that underlie curatorship and taxonomy.

Mark Dion’s recent solo exhibitions include Microcosmographia, a survey exhibition of selected projects to date at the South London Gallery, London (2005); Salon de Chasse, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Chateau de Chambord, France (2005); Projects 82: Rescue Archeology, A Project for the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York (2004); Tropical Travels, Thomas Ender (1817-1818) and Mark Dion (2003), Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (2004). Dion will also be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Miami Art Museum (2006) and present Seattle Vivarium, as part of I AM SAM, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum (2006).