Monaco.- The Nouveau Musee National de Monaco (NMNM – The New National Museum of Monaco) is showing “Oceanomania: Memories of Mysterious Seas”, a project by Mark Dion until September 30th at the Villa Paloma (one of the museum’s two sites within the city state). Continuing his investigations as a naturalist, archaeologist and traveler, Mark Dion explores the American collections of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco to create a monumental collection of curiosities, and plunges into the collections of the New National Museum of Monaco (NMNM) to create a large-scale intervention.
Mark Dion’s installation at the Villa Paloma brings together works by 20 artists including the monumental series ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ by Bernard Buffet and works by Matthew Barney, Ashley Bickerton, David Brooks, David Casini, Michel Camia, Peter Coffin, Marcel Dzama, Katharina Fritsch, Klara Hobza Isola and Norzi, Pam Longobardi, Jean Painlevé, James Prosek, Man Ray, Alexis Rockman, Allan Sekula, Xaviera Simmons, Lawrence Tixador and Abraham Pointcheval and Rosemarie Trockel. In addition, Dion’s installation includes an eclectic collection of works of art, related to the sea (including two rarely seen paintings of the Bay of Monaco by Claude Monet), from the collections of NMNM alongside objects from the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. ‘Oceanomania’ is jointly curated by NMNM and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
Two significant and conflicting maritime events form the conceptual framework of this project. They are the Census of Marine Life, recently completed (2010), and the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon. The first involved 2,700 scientists from 80 nations, who for 10 years studied the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans. It resulted in the identification of 6,000 new species, of which only 1500 have been described so far. The Census of Marine Life has also highlighted the fact that the oceans are richer, more connected and more affected than imagined.The second, the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon has caused the flow of 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the sea in the Gulf of Mexico, producing a kill zone of 210 square kilometers and causing untold damage to the marine life. The consequences should still be felt for decades to come. In his exhibition, Dion examines our perception of the ocean. It challenges our sense of wonder at its great diversity and our sadness over the destruction. It’s looks at the evolution of our fascination with the sea in time and space, design, literature and art, and reveals how the strange and wonderful have continuously inspired the research and creation Art.
Blurring the boundaries between natural history, art and science, the work of Mark Dion focuses on the topics such as archeology, ecology and environmental protection. Dion has held major exhibitions at Oakland Museum of California (2011), EMSCHERKUNST, Germany (2010), Prefectural Museum Ancient Arles, Arles (2010), Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2009), Natural History Museum, London (2007), Square Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Nîmes (2007), Miami Art Museum (2006), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004), Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2003), and Tate Modern, London (1999). Dion has also created many permanent outdoor installations such as “Ship in a Bottle”, a public commission for the Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Enhancement Project, California (2011), “Vertical Garden” at Tooley Street, London (2009), and “Neukom Vivarium” for the Olympic Sculpture Park commissioned by Seattle Art Museum (2006). He is represented by the gallery In Situ – Fabienne Leclerc Paris and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York, Galerie Christian Nagel in Berlin, Georg Kargl Vienna and Galerie für Landschaftskunst Hamburg. Mark Dion lives and works in New York and Pennsylvania.
Monaco’s Nouveau Musée National de Monaco opened in 2010 and is located in two stunning venues, the Villa Paloma and the Villa Sauber. With a focus on modern, contemporary works of art, these completely re-designed venues present two expositions annually per venue and spotlight the cultural, historic and artistic virtues of Principality. The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is open daily from 10:00am to 6:0pm. Entry is free to all under the age of 26. The Villa Paloma is one of the finest mansions in the Principality and was originally built around 1913 for an American, Edward N. Dickerson. After passing through numerous hands (and being severely damaged during World War II), the villa was bought by the State of Monaco in 1995 and became part of the new museum in 2008. The garden is the jewel of the Villa, and the museum took great care to preserve it as an Italian garden balcony overlooking the city and the sea, retaining the existing vegetation and creating links with the Princess Antoinette Park and the Museum of Anthropology. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.nmnm.mc/