Excavations

Mark Dion’s immersive, uncanny installation at La Brea Tar Pits, Excavations, evokes a behind-the-scenes museum space, displaying new work alongside early museum murals, dioramas, and maquettes of Ice Age mammals in a playful, irreverent presentation in keeping with his meticulous yet mischievous approach. During an extended residency at the Tar Pits, Dion assisted with excavations, sorted microfossils, shadowed a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum, explored collections and archives, and interviewed researchers, educators, and floor staff to create this installation. 

Dion’s 10-foot-long sculpture of a fossil pack rat skeleton stands atop a mix of natural and cultural detritus from the Tar Pits and the Hancock Park neighborhood. Additionally, six new drawings by Dion of mammal skeletons commonly found in the Tar Pits—artworks labeled with the names of locally important scientists, artists, historical figures, and landmarks—further blend artifice and reality, belying Dion’s critical and satirical approach to museum didactics. A new field guide to Hancock Park published in conjunction with the exhibition highlights the flora and fauna of the site, as well as the Tar Pits’ unparalleled cultural and scientific significance.