Mark Dion: The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales

From 8th September to 7th November 2021, Barakat Contemporary holds an American artist Mark Dion's first solo exhibition in Korea, The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales. As an amateur ecologist, archaeologist, and sometimes ornithologist, naturalist, and avid collector who has explored the world since the mid-late 1980s, Dion presents two new large-scale installations that showcase the process of on-site archeological analysis, collection and classification, and display around the theme of marine ecology and biodiversity in Korea. Along with these two new works, this exhibition also introduces some of the major sculptures and drawings that best capture his thirty years of work. 

The exhibition starts with a Dion's signature cabinet of curiosities, "Cabinet of Marine Debris", composed of marine plastics collected from the South and West Seas of Korea, and continues to the immersive diorama "Sea Life of South Korea", which recreates the laboratory of an anonymous marine biologist. Presented for the first time, Barakat Contemporary introduces new drawings  and monumental sculptures that invite the viewer’s critical reflection on the relationship between the natural and human, a project that Dion has been focusing on for over thirty years.

Barakat Contemporary warmly invites you to Mark Dion's first solo exhibition in Korea, The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales.