Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman with Dr. Julie Reiss

Artists Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman and art historian Dr. Julie Reiss discuss creative life in the context of our new social reality.

This Social Environment is supported by Sperone Westwater Gallery. We are deeply grateful for their support of the Brooklyn Rail and our community.

Mark Dion is an artist whose work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge, and the natural world. His work has been exhibited widely, solo exhibitions include Mark Dion: Follies, at Storm King Sculpture Park (2019), Misadventures of a 21st Century Naturalist at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (2017), Mark Dion: The Academy of Things at The Academy of Fine Arts Design in Dresden, Germany (2014), The Macabre Treasury at Museum Het Domein in Sittard, The Netherlands (2013), among others. Dion has received numerous awards, including the ninth annual Larry Aldrich Foundation Award (2001) The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2007) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lucida Art Award (2008). He is a professor at Columbia University.

Alexis Rockman is a painter of landscapes and ecological concerns. His work has been shown widely, Notable solo museum exhibitions include the recent touring exhibition Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle at Grand Rapids Art Museum (2018) and Alexis Rockman: Manifest Destiny at the Brooklyn Museum (2004).

Dr. Julie Reiss is an art historian who directs a Master’s program at Christie’s Education. Julie has presented papers and chaired panels on issues related to art and climate change at conferences including the College Art Association and the Conference for the Council for European Studies. She is the author of From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art (1999) and the editor of Art, Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene (2018).

In the Rail:

• MARK DION with Yasi Alipour (Oct 2019)
• ALEXIS ROCKMAN with Jonathan T.D. Neil (Oct 2013)
• Art in the Climate Crisis, by Dr. Julie Reiss (June 2019)

The New Social Environment — Daily conversations with artists, writers, filmmakers, poets around the world where we discuss creative life in the context of our new social reality.