Critical studies

 Museum construct talk  

 After our last talk we were asked to find and discuss an example of an artist exploring museum construct, I'll be looking at the Tate Thames dig, 1999 by Mark Dion. 

Mark Dion is an American Conceptual artist. The Tate Thames dig is a piece that looks at displaying and categorising pieces of locational history. In 1999 Mark Dion and a local team of volunteers patrolled and rummaged the banks and shore of the Thames. This was obviously done at low tide, they searched two large stretches of the river. During the search they found objects like bone, glass, toys, pottery, shells and such. He collected and presented these objects in a large old fashioned mahogany cabinet, to me this makes it reminiscent of  the Victorian cabinet of curiosities, in turn giving it a sense of personal museums and the idea of worth being dependant on the person.  The River Thames has been a vital part of Londoners life and history, this use of the river as a central investigation point is a way of exploring and bringing forth parts of fragment history. I believe the Tate Thames dig piece to be to be wholly applicable when researching the museum construct as Dion is bringing forth a local history through seemingly insignificant found objects and artifacts opposed to traditional idea of only displaying high art.