RR9 and AR9

(Re)Arranging Objects Is it art?
Throughout the past several weeks you have been engaging with works of art by gathering internal information about the artwork through careful observation and description, considering external information found through research and reading others writing about the artworks, artists and their practices, considering contexts the works are produced in and seen in, forming connections between works by considering collections, and forming interpretations of works of art.
Earlier you took a look at one issue of importance in feminist approaches in thinking about artworks that of representation of women and the roles of women vis–vis works of art. Today youll be thinking about works of art that are made by rearranging objects that already exist in the world, specifically in the work of artists Mark Dion and Fred Wilson. 
The readings for this week include:

Birnbaum (1999) Week 13 > Week 13 Readings Folder
Thomas (2010)  Week 13 > Week 13 Readings Folder

For this post, after reading Birnbaum and Thomas go to the Art21 website and spend about 30 minutes getting to know the work of Mark Dion and his perspectives on his work:
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mark-dion
Next, go to this great 10-minute video where Mark Dion explains one of his site-specific installations at some castle ruins: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me2jXlzP0Ag.
Finally, Id like you to gain insight into another artists work which is similar to that of Mark Dion. The work of Fred Wilson, and specifically his project titled Liberty/Libert, is the focus of your research. This sculptural installation was created at the New York Historical Society. To create it Wilson gathered objects from the collection of the NY Historical Society and put them together in a way that would communicate something about history in a new way to viewers.
Please view this two-minute video to hear Fred Wilson talking about Liberty/Liberte:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRi0nqYzVlY.
RR9 & AR9 (TOGETHER)
Considering your online museum-experience in writing Paper 3, the way Wilson is rearranging objects in a museum to give them a new meaning, and what youve encountered in Mark Dions work and the writing about his work, please comment on the following:

How does artwork that takes objects that already exist in the world and rearranging them to present to viewers help us (as viewers) see the world differently?
How is this both similar to and different from one artwork youve already written about?
Think of an issue or topic that is deeply interesting or important to you. It can be personal, political, or social; popular or obscure; current or from a by-gone era. If you were creating an installation a la Dion or Wilson in an art museum about this topic, what would you include? What would tell the story of the issue in a way that would help viewers think about it from whatever point (or points) of view you wanted them to consider?

OPTIONAL: If you become interested in Fred Wilsons project, I would like to encourage you to investigate Wilsons famous 1993 work Mining the Museum. If you are interested in learning more about Dions Tate Thames Dig, I would like to encourage you to explore the Tate Museums fantastic website outlining the project at: 
http://www2.tate.org.uk/thamesdig/flash.htm  ***Again this is optional.