Mark Dion: Reconnaissance

Waldburger Wouters - Brussels

Behind the Black Curtain

By Steve Schepens

Waffles, mussels and fries, as well as a pissing toddler, are the cliches that seem to represent the capital of Belgium and the European Union. But an explosive art scene should be added to that list, and, unfortunately, since March 22 of this year, exploding-bomb terrorist attacks at the airport and in the subway.

But starting on April 20, Art Brussels, an independent art fair, three other art fairs and a multitude of gallery openings were the highlight of the calendar, punctuated by the city’s open and generous state of mind and classic Belgian twist.

The exhibition of Mark Dion (*1961, USA) at gallery Waldburger Wouters in Brussels, near the Palace of Justice, gives us a perspective on a different “theatre of the world.” The building in which the gallery is situated houses eight galleries, just around the corner from the Poelaertplein, offering one of the most amazing panoramas of the city. After climbing the industrial stairs up to the second floor, one enters the exhibition Reconnaissance and notices three focus points: three sculptures representing the north pole, south pole and equator.

The north pole is represented by a ceramic polar bear in a traditional Flemish steel bucket with its paws in tar; the south pole by a large plush penguin teddy, similarly with its paws in tar in a traditional Flemish steel washing tub. Trash is littered around the animal toy; pearl chains, a plastic bambi toy, a cognac glass, a magnifying glass, biljart balls, a book, a photo machine, etc. The middle sculpture, of the equator, is represented by a red coral reef with pocket watches hanging on it like a Christmas tree under a glass dome. It’s a bogus Victorian mantelpiece vitrine, exploring the conceptual impact and demanding critical attention from the onlooker. It may refer to the melting watches in Dali’s painting The Persistence of Memory, or the presence of surrealism in Brussels. The Magritte Museum is just a stone’s throw from the gallery.

Mark Dion, The Natural Sciences, 2015, sixteen fluorescent 3D printed objects, synthetic materials, dimensions variable (installation 354” x 23” x 35.”). Photo: Isabelle Arthuis.

The main installation is hidden behind a black curtain. Could this be the black curtain of amnesia? Have we forgotten this history? The objects seem like paleontological ghosts. The onlooker enters a darkened space where a long table is installed with 16 different objects in fluorescent greenish-yellow color, ranging from a Neanderthal skull and a stuffed bird to a miniature mammoth skeleton, a fish body, a microscope, books in a pile and a toy dinosaur. Dion’s sculptures explore the vocabulary of critical scientific and artistic engagement, adding a new visual language to these objects and to the idea of the wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities. Dion’s mission to challenge the onlooker and present him with information results in uncanny artworks.

Patrick Waldburger, one of the gallerists, said that some of the new works were produced by the gallery following the instructions of the artist. The objets trouvés, of which the sculptures are made, were purchased at flea markets in Brussels and via the Internet.

(April 22 - June 20, 2016)

Steve Schepens is an artist and arts writer based in Brussels.

Filed Under: Reviews