Theatre of the natural world

Summary/Review: Since the late 1980s Mark Dion (b. 1961, Massachusetts) has been delving into the tropes and research methods of scientists, explorers, museum curators and archaeologists. He has created a body of work that playfully presents art as scientific enquiry or field work, questioning how knowledge is gathered, classified and displayed. Five installations will be displayed at Whitechapel Gallery, incorporating diverse subjects such as hunting blinds, heraldic banners and an extraordinary array of objects drawn from the mudbanks of the Thames, Manchester flea markets and American curiosity shops. The show will also include a brand new commission comprising of a library-cum-aviary, complete with 22 live finches. Beautifully designed with allusions to Victorian tomes, guidebooks and Dion's own artistic style, the catalogue also features new essays by Gilda Williams and Petra Lange-Berndt, an interview between the artist and Iwona Blazwick and an anthology of writings selected by Dion himself --