Mark Dion's Genoa Exhibition Gives Voice to Endangered Species

Mark Dion, born in 1961 in New Bedford, USA, and a professor at Columbia University, presents 'The Melancholy Entomologist and Tales of Ecological Despair' at Galleria Pinksummer in Genoa. The exhibition opens with an installation evoking a 1950s entomologist's study, paying homage to Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'. Among the works are 64 watercolors of fish by Korean artists, commissioned after Dion visited a Seoul fish market, serving as an elegy to marine biodiversity threatened by overfishing. A 'Target Wall' features a forest-green panel with hunting objects, critically highlighting violence against animals. In an adjacent room, a ceramic penguin submerged in bitumen and waste on an antique Ligurian plant stand symbolizes tragedy in a polluted world. Two taxonomic drawings close the show, reflecting Dion's ambivalent relationship with scientific classification. In an interview, Dion cites Carson and Greta Thunberg as inspirations, emphasizing the need for activist scientists. He describes his approach as ironic yet serious, aiming to break isolation and express anger and grief over ecological crisis. The exhibition runs at Galleria Pinksummer in Genoa.