Bruce Presents: Unlocking the Cabinet of Curiosities -with Mark Dion, Alexis Rockman, and Tim Walsh
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 6:00-7:30 PM, Gale and Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., and Pamela and Robert Goergen Auditorium
Following successful and storied solo careers, artists Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman join forces in the first two-person survey exhibition of their work. Punctuating this extraordinary show is a one-of-a-kind installation created specifically for the Bruce Museum – our very own cabinet-of-curiosity.
The artists worked closely with the Bruce Museum’s Collections Manager, Tim Walsh to mine the collection. Together they unearthed artifacts of science and natural history and explored the work of early Bruce Museum curators Paul Griswold Howes and Edward F. Bigelow.
On July 18th, join artists Mark Dion, Alexis Rockman, and Collections Manager Tim Walsh as they unpack the cabinet-of-curiosity and reveal what lies within.
Bruce Presents: Unlocking the Cabinet of Curiosities will begin at 6:00pm EST on Tuesday, July 18th, 2023, in the Gale and Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., and Pamela and Robert Goergen Auditorium. This program will also be livestreamed online.
Support for Bruce Presents is generously provided by Berkley One, a Berkley Company.
Space is limited. Online registration required.
Cost: Adults - $25, Students/ Educators - $15, Members FREE
Cost: Live Stream - $25, Live Stream Members FREE
Mark Dion, Alexis Rockman (photo by Katherine Taylor), and Tim Walsh.
Mark Dion (b. 1961) received his BFA (1986) and an honorary doctorate (2003) from the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School, and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. By locating the roots of environmental politics and public policy in the construction of knowledge about nature, Mark Dion questions the objectivity and authoritative role of the scientific voice in contemporary society, tracking how pseudo-science, social agendas and ideology creep into public discourse and knowledge production. He is the co-director of Mildred’s Land, an innovative visual art education and residency program in Beach Lake, and lives with his wife and frequent collaborator, Dana Sherwood, in Copake, New York.
Alexis Rockman (b. 1962) has exhibited extensively worldwide since 1985. He has been the subject of many international solo and group exhibitions, including a major retrospective organized at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His work is also included in public and private collections around the world, and he has held several teaching posts at prestigious institutions, such as Columbia and Harvard. Recent exhibitions include Alexis Rockman: Shipwrecks, 2021-22 at Guild Hall, East Hampton, which traveled to Peabody Essex Museum, The Ackland Museum and the Princeton University Art Museum, Oceanus, 2023 at the Mystic Seaport Museum and Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: A Journey Through Nature’s Underworld, 2023, at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT. Rockman lives and works in Warren, CT.
Tim Walsh is a museum professional with 32 years’ experience in the field. Much of his career has been focused on herpetology with a specialty in turtles and he has worked in zoos, public aquaria, science centers, and museums. His recently found passion for history has a focused interest on the founding curators of the Bruce Museum, where he currently serves as Collections Manager. Tim has a Masters Degree in Museum Studies with research interests in conservation education, history of natural history, and reconnecting children and adults alike with nature. He is a member of the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, a Fellow of The Explorers Club, an avid outdoorsman, published photographer, and book collector.
