Universal Collection: A Mark Dion Project

Mark Dion is internationally renowned for his "cabinets of curiosities" that incorporate found objects from richly diverse sources. His art investigates the role of public institutions in shaping our understanding of nature, history, and the boundaries between scientific methods and subjective experience. "Universal Collection" comprised a monumental cabinet filled with hundreds of objects gathered from the Vassar campus. Taken together, they invited consideration of the circumstances and implications of their accumulation. Dion completed the installation, with the assistance of students, as Vassar artist-in-residence in spring 2016.

Organized by Mark Dion in conjunction with the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. The exhibition was generously supported by the Creative Arts Across Disciplines initiative of Vassar College, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Ralph E. Ogden Foundation; and the Friends of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center Exhibition Fund. Additional support was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and by the Helen Forster Novy 1928 Fund.