Seagulls and Dead trees

So this week I looked at the work of Mark Dion and how it fits into the area of community based art.

Firstly i want to look at Neukom Vivarium, where Dion brings a fallen Hemlock tree (home to a large variety of flora and fauna) into the heart of Seattle as part of the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Basically the work involves Dion retrieving the fallen tree from its natural habitat and placing it in a greenhouse so that it will evolve into a living sculpture as plants begin to grow from it and insects and animals inhabit the tree.
In an interview about Neukom Vivarium, Dion states that he isn't interested in whether this work is art or not, as that was all sorted out years ago by Duchamp. My problem with this is that it is in a SCULPTURE park, so it is automatically given the title of art, even though it involves elements of a science museum or botanical garden. As a work for the community it educates viewers about the plants and animals that would have naturally inhabited the area if it was not so built up. It is perhaps more accessible to the non-art educated public, however, it is still very much a work for the world due to the fact it is situated in a sculpture park.

Another example of Dion's work, Mobile Gull Appreciation Unit, which is a mobile kiosk in the shape of a seagull that dispenses field guides about the Mediterranean Gull. It was part of the 2008 Folkestone Triennial in the UK. Like Neukom Vivarium, this work is also interested in public education about the natural wildlife of the local area, focusing changing social attitudes about seagulls being pests. Although the unit is mobile, it is site specific in the fact that it is only relevant in Folkstone, and removing it from this context would change the work.