Talk

MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Mark Dorf.

Mark Dorf (b. 1988) is a New York-based artist working across photography, video, digital media, and sculpture. Engaging collaboratively with ecologists and technologists, Dorf’s work questions perceptions of what Western culture often terms “nature.” His images and objects examine how design, image culture, technology, and science shape expectations of the “natural” world, while engaging deeply with the digital processes behind their production. By making the marks of these often hidden digital processes visible, Dorf’s work reflects an awareness of its own production, inviting viewers to consider how digital materials shape their own lives and subsequently alter their understanding of the “natural” world and beyond. Through these inquiries into perception, ecological thought, and digital materiality, Dorf’s practice proposes a dynamic, entangled planetary ecology that includes technological systems, and a future in the Anthropocene beyond environmental collapse. 

Dorf’s works has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide including The Museum für Gestaltung (Zurich, CH), The Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockport, ME), Foam Photography Museum (Amsterdam, NL), The Houston Center for Photography (Houston, TX), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes, FR), Les Rencontres d’Arles (Arles, FR), Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, DE), Postmasters Gallery (New York, NY), bitforms Gallery (New York, NY), and The Lima Museum of Contemporary Art (Lima, PE), among others. Dorf’s films have been featured on dis.art and VDrome.org. 

His work can be found in the collections of the Foam Photography Museum, the RISD Museum, Fidelity Investments, the Deutsche Bank, and The Houston Center for Photography, along with numerous private collections. Additionally, Dorf’s books are available in renowned libraries internationally, including The Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library at Yale University, and the Avery Library at Columbia University. 

Talks is a series of lectures by artists, writers and scholars presented by MFA Fine Arts. Talks are held on Tuesdays at 3:00pm at 133 West 21st Street in Room 101C and on Zoom. Participation in the Q&A is limited to MFA Fine Arts students attending the lecture in person.

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