Phantom Museum Wonder Workshop
This is a previous work by artist Mark Dion.
This semester, Colgate welcomes internationally acclaimed artist Mark Dion as the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist in Residence.
Starting today until March 23, the community is invited to make art with Dion. Every day from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and then 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., the Clifford Gallery will be transformed into a “Wonder Workshop” with Dion’s interest in cabinets of curiosities (Wunderkammern) at the core of the new installation to be created in collaboration with the community.
Upon completion, the three-dimensional objects created in the workshop, based on illustrations of 16th and 17th century cabinets of curiosities, will be moved to a large cabinet built especially for the project. The finished cabinet installation will be on view in the Clifford Gallery from March 25 to April 10.
Phantom Museum Wonder Workshop
A partner exhibition will be on view in the Picker Art Gallery until May 17, and will feature more than 40 works by Dion—including sculpture, prints, and artist books—spanning from the early 1990s to the present day.
A concertina-style brochure designed by Dion and Jeffrey Jenkins will accompany the exhibition titled Mark Dion: The Phantom Museum—Wonder Workshop. The publication will include a foreword by Anja Chávez, director of university museums, and Lynette Stephenson, professor of art and art history; an introduction by Jill Shaw, senior curator of collections, Picker Art Gallery; and an essay by Carolyn C. Guile, assistant professor of art and art history.
Related events and exhibitions
Dion will give a public lecture at 4:30 p.m. today in Golden Auditorium to launch the communitywide collaboration.
Following the artist’s lecture, the Picker will host an opening reception. The events related to Dion’s visit will culminate in the unveiling of the newly completed installation in the Clifford Gallery on March 25, a gallery talk with the artist, and a reception.
Support for Mark Dion: The Phantom Museum–Wonder Workshop comes from Colgate’s Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence Fund, the Department of Art and Art History, and the Picker Art Gallery.
The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence Fund was established in 1986 as a challenge grant in support of the arts at Colgate. The residency program permits one or more artists or scholars in the areas of fine arts, music, and theater to become part of the Colgate community each academic year.