The Medecine Cabinet of Mystery, 2013-2019

The artwork pledge

• QUALITY EDUCATION
• AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
• INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE
• SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
• RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
• CLIMATE ACTION
• LIFE BELOW WATER
• LIFE ON LAND

Tags

• Amazon Rainforest
• Animals
• Anthropocene
• Anthropomorphism
• Archaeology
• Biodiversity
• Biotechnology
• Cabinet of Curiosities
• Climate Change
• Consumerism
• Drawing
• Dystopia
• Endangered Species
• Ernst Haeckel
• Extinction
• Figurative
• France
• Global Warming
• Industrial Revolution
• Installation
• Land Art
• Landscape
• Massachusetts
• Mixed Media
• Natural History
• Nature
• New York City
• North America
• Nostalgia
• Paris
• Pencil on Paper
• Poaching
• Pollution
• Robert Smithson
• Sculpture 3D
• Social
• Spiral Jetty
• United States
• Wildfire
• Wood
• Works on Paper
• Zoonosis

About this artwork

As its name suggests, this Medicine Cabinet of Mystery is an atypical artifact displaying shells, an alarm clock, a miniature sculpture of a bird among other unexpected objects. Balancing rational and mystical thinking, Mark Dion ponders on what we as humans have accomplished in the past centuries and what continues to remain a mystery. Medicine nowadays is particularly scrutinized, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of looming diseases, people are reconsidering alternative healing procedures.
This piece was part of the artist’s exhibition The Macabre Treasury at the Museum Het Domein Sittard, the Netherlands. Aside from this, the cabinet is a reflection on the phenomenon of collecting and cataloging in Western cultures.

More artworks by Mark Dion

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• Mark Dion Bison of St. Louis, 2010 In Situ - fabienne leclerc €4,000 Buy now
• Mark Dion Chart 17, 2020 In Situ - fabienne leclerc €6,500 Sold
• Mark Dion Confectionary Curiosity, 2024 In Situ - fabienne leclerc €25,000 Buy now

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