In March 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq; pictures from the Abu Ghuraib prison triggered worldwide consternation in May 2004 and protests were fired against the military deployment there. Mark Dion’s installation Mess Conference also represents a reaction to the events in Iraq.
The props are arranged in the space as if on a stage: a speaker’s lectern with microphone, behind it a dark blue curtain, in addition a bookcase on rollers and an American flag that can be set up beside or behind the lectern. Various items of clothing hang on a coat rack; the artist invites visitors to select and slip on a U.S. Army administration officer’s uniform, the conservative suit of a Republican senator, or the coat and headscarf of a Muslim UNICEF delegate. The corresponding seals of office are attached to the lectern as required. It is then possible to pose for a black and white photograph, which later becomes part of the installation. Mess Conference sarcastically comments on the staging of political power.
Playing with different identities – primarily the role of the expert or scientist, into which the artist himself slips frequently – has defined Mark Dion’s work since the mid 1980s. In his performance-based works and installations that use a wealth of materials, he investigates the mechanisms employed to write “official history.” In this context, for Dion the role of objects and their classification is decisive, a key theme that he has also examined in his works about our relation to nature as well as its representation in natural history museums and in the sciences.
The props are arranged in the space as if on a stage: a speaker’s lectern with microphone, behind it a dark blue curtain, in addition a bookcase on rollers and an American flag that can be set up beside or behind the lectern. Various items of clothing hang on a coat rack; the artist invites visitors to select and slip on a U.S. Army administration officer’s uniform, the conservative suit of a Republican senator, or the coat and headscarf of a Muslim UNICEF delegate. The corresponding seals of office are attached to the lectern as required. It is then possible to pose for a black and white photograph, which later becomes part of the installation. Mess Conference sarcastically comments on the staging of political power.
Playing with different identities – primarily the role of the expert or scientist, into which the artist himself slips frequently – has defined Mark Dion’s work since the mid 1980s. In his performance-based works and installations that use a wealth of materials, he investigates the mechanisms employed to write “official history.” In this context, for Dion the role of objects and their classification is decisive, a key theme that he has also examined in his works about our relation to nature as well as its representation in natural history museums and in the sciences.
