Distributed March 29, 2001
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Mary Jo Curtis



Bell Gallery to join in Dion’s New England Digs Project April 3–6

The David Winton Bell Gallery will work with artist Mark Dion on his New England Digs Project, beginning with an April 3-6, 2001, dig of the Seekonk River near Brown’s Marston Boat House. The project will culminate in an exhibition at the Bell Gallery next year.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The David Winton Bell Gallery will join artist Mark Dion, Brockton’s Fuller Museum of Art, UMass–Dartmouth’s University Gallery and New Bedford’s Whaling Museum in a collaborative effort to turn trash into art as part of Mark Dion: The New England Digs Project.

Organized by the Fuller Museum, New England Digs will take place in Brockton, Providence, and New Bedford. With assistance from students at Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design, Dion will initially conduct a pseudo-archaeological dig along the banks of the Seekonk River; land sites in New Bedford and Brockton will also be mined. Contemporary cultural artifacts – what some people call “garbage” – will be collected, cleaned, categorized and ultimately presented in a traveling exhibition.

Digs will take place in Providence on the Seekonk River near Brown University’s Marston Boat House on Tuesday, April 3, from 8:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.; on Wednesday, April 4, from 9:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.; on Thursday, April 5, from 10:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; and Friday, April 6, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The public is welcome; those who wish to participate are encouraged to call (401) 863-2932 to confirm the daily dig location.

Digs have also been scheduled in New Bedford (under the auspices of the University Gallery at UMass–Dartmouth and the New Bedford Whaling Museum) at the former site of O’Malley’s Tavern from April 9 to 13, and in Brockton at 70 East Battle St. from April 16 to 20. Cleaning sessions will be held at the List Art Center at Brown University April 23 to 27 and at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford from April 30 to May 4. The digs and cleaning sessions are open to the public.

The resulting exhibition will be on view at the Fuller Museum of Art from June 2 through September 2, 2001, at the Bell Gallery during February and March of 2002, and at the University Gallery at UMass–Dartmouth during the summer of 2002.

Dion, a New Bedford native, has based his work on his strong ecological concerns and a multitude of interests that include ornithology, entomology, history, archaeology and museum practices. His work has been included in major international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and the Carnegie International, as well in London’s Tate Modern Museum and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

For further information, contact the Bell Gallery at (401) 863-2932.

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