Over the course of his career, Mark Dion has investigated the intersections between art, nature, and culture by collecting a wealth of found and natural objects and incorporating them into his sculptural works. Architectural follies—compact, decorative structures intended to inspire meaning rather than to serve a functional purpose—have been an important part of his practice and were the focus of Dion’s 2019 exhibition at Storm King. Dion frequently employs the form of the architectural folly to house wide-ranging displays of objects and to construct intricate tableaux that hint at imagined characters or circumstances, whether humorous or melancholic. The practice has allowed him to create works with a complexity of visual material that would otherwise not be possible in public or outdoor spaces.

The Field Station uses a metal rainwater-collection vessel as its structure. Dion first began creating functional outdoor laboratories as artworks in the early 1990s and has since created numerous iterations similar to this work, each sensitive to its surroundings and context. The inside space contains the tools necessary for scientific discovery—including organic specimens collected from Storm King’s site—and acts as a gathering place for ecologists, natural historians, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. 
 
Please visit our online calendar (stormking.org/calendar) for related education and public programming that takes place inside and outside this work.