Marc Swanson works across diverse media, creating sculptures and environments that explore the relationships between humans, culture, and the natural world. His most ambitious installation to date, A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco is inspired by the dioramas found in natural history museums as well as Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole’s (1801–1848) writings on the negative effects of development in the Catskills region. Additionally, Swanson references the disco, which he explores in relation to freedom and mourning during the AIDS crisis. Taken together, these references create an installation that confronts loss and our inability to control human nature and the world around us. A companion exhibition will go on view July 16 – November 27, 2022, at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY.

Download the pdf of Marc Swanson: A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco gallery guide here.

About the Artist
Marc Swanson (born 1969, Connecticut) earned an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, NY in 2004. He has exhibited internationally in Sweden and Mexico, and was included in the second Greater New York exhibition at PS1 in 2005. Swanson has worked collaboratively with choreographer/dancer Jack Ferver to create sets for Chambre (2014/15). Select solo exhibitions include: Inman Gallery, Houston, TX (2017 and 2011); Basilica Hudson Back Gallery, Hudson, NY (2016); American Dance Institute, Rockville, MD (2015); and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2011). His work is included in many public collections, including those of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia. Swanson currently lives and works in Catskill, NY.

Support for A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco is provided by the Artist’s Resource Trust (A.R.T.) Fund, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. The artist would also like to thank Bridge Street Theatre, the Catskill Center, and Foreland Catskill.

Installation view of Marc Swanson: A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco.
MASS MoCA, 2022.
Photo by Tony Luong.