Just got back from a much needed vacation in the Pacific Northwest. My enthusiasm for all places (anyone who's heard me talk about both Baltimore and Iowa can attest to that one) is strong for Washington and British Columbia. I have all kinds of stories to tell (ask me about the alpaca farm!) but I didn't expect my vacation to also be re-energizing for my work on the set.
While in Seattle I had the chance to go to the Olympic Sculpture Park. Most sculpture gardens leave me feeling a little underwhelmed (the BMA for sure) Seattle's new (or new ish I guess) park does it right showcasing all kinds of work from Richard Serra, to Alexander Calder (one of Garry Cerrone's favorites) to living artists working today like Teresita Fernandez and Mark Dion as well as a half dozen temporary ones by local artists up for just the summer.
I was so excited about the Mark Dion piece. Neukom Vivarium is a custom built greenhouse built to display a nurse log from a forest in the Pacific Northwest. A nurse log is a fallen tree that hosts new life on the forest floor as it decomposes. The old tree lives on as a rich habitat for ferns, new trees, fungi, and a whole host of little critters.
Mark Dion uses the constructs of a natural history museum and naturalists as his visual vocabulary. The Vivarium includes custom made critter tiles, displays of books, tools, glass jars filled with samples, and a docent wearing outdoor gear to answer your art and science questions.
The greenhouse itself is shielded with transparent green panels to mimic the shade of the forest. These shadows this cast on the floor were extra beautiful.
The Vivarium has a second room filled with drawers and cabinets filled with books and drawings that you can sift through. I was particularly into this drawing of a cross section of a log.Here's a short little video of Mark Dion speaking about the piece on site.
This Roxy Paine tree is right next to the Vivarium.
This piece by Mungo Thompson was great surprise. Thompson is a sound artist from LA and his piece b/w is playing outside the pavilion and in the parking garage. It features recordings of birds slowed down so they sound like humpback whales and the sound of whales sped up so they sound like birds. Super smart. I was also a fan of the streamlined dual turntable display.
