"Miracles & Charms," Exhibition, The Wellcome Collection

I am very very excited about the new exhibition "Miracles & Charms" opening next Thursday at the always amazing Wellcome Collection in London. The exhibition will feature Mexican votive paintings borrowed from Mexican museums and sanctuaries as well as votives, amulets and charms drawn from the Pitt Rivers-housed collection of "obsessive folklorist Edward Lovett [1852-1933], who scoured the city by night, buying curious objects from London's mudlarks, barrow men and sailors, which he sold on to Wellcome." There will also be original artworks.

Full details follow, and above are images of just a few of the pieces you will find in the exhibition (credits at end of post). If you are based in the London area, be sure to check it out! I know I would if I could....

Miracles & Charms at Wellcome Collection
Wellcome Collection | 6 October 2011 – 26 February 2012

Miracles & Charms, Wellcome Collection's autumn exhibition programme, explores the extraordinary in the everyday with two shows: Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings, the first major display of Mexican votive paintings outside Mexico; and Felicity Powell: Charmed life, an exhibition of unseen London amulets from Henry Wellcome's collection, curated by the artist Felicity Powell. Drawing lines between faith, mortality and healing, Miracles & Charms will offer a poignant insight into the tribulations of daily life and human responses to chance and suffering.

Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings
Mexican votives are small paintings, usually executed on tin roof tiles or small plaques, depicting the moment of personal humility when an individual asks a saint for help and is delivered from disaster and sometimes death. Infinitas Gracias will feature over 100 votive paintings drawn from five collections held by museums in and around Mexico City and two sanctuaries located in mining communities in the Bajío region to the North: the city of Guanajuato and the distant mountain town of Real de Catorce. Together with images, news reports, photographs, devotional artefacts, film and interviews, the exhibition will illustrate the depth of the votive tradition in Mexico.

Usually commissioned from local artists by the petitioner, votive paintings tell immediate and intensely personal stories, from domestic dramas to revolutionary violence, through which a markedly human history of communities and their culture can be read. Votives to be displayed in Infinitas Gracias date from the 18th century to the present day. Over this period, thousands of small paintings came to line the walls of Mexican churches as gestures of thanksgiving, replacing powerful doctrine-driven images of the saints with personal and direct pleas for help. The votives are intimate records of the tumultuous dramas of everyday life: lightning strikes, gun fights, motor accidents, ill health and false imprisonment; in which saintly intervention was believed to have led to survival and reprieve.

Infinitas Gracias will explore the reaction of individuals at the moment of crisis in which their strength of faith comes into play. The profound influence of these vernacular paintings, and the artists and individuals who painted them, can be seen in the work of such figures as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who were avid collectors. The contemporary legacy of the votive ritual will be present in the exhibition through a wall covered with modern day offerings from one church in Guanajuato: a paper shower of letters, certificates, photographs, clothing and flowers, through which the tradition of votive offering continues today. The sanctuaries at Guanajuato and Real de Catorce remain centres of annual pilgrimage, attracting thousands of people to thank and celebrate their chosen saints.

Felicity Powell: Charmed life
A please to the votives' thank you, Charmed life, curated by Felicity Powell, features some four hundred amulets from Henry Wellcome's vast collection, which will be exhibited encircled with works, including new pieces and videos, by the artist. The amulets, ranging from simple coins to meticulously carved shells, dead animals to elaborately fashioned notes, are from a collection within a collection, amassed by the banker and obsessive folklorist Edward Lovett, who scoured the city by night, buying curious objects from London's mudlarks, barrow men and sailors, which he sold on to Wellcome.

The amulets are objects of solace. Intended to be held, touched, and kept close to the body, they are by turns designed and found, peculiar and familiar. The potency of the charms is invested through rituals of hope and habit. Each amulet on display has long been separated from its wearer, but collectively they form a repository for the anxieties, reassurances and superstitions of the city and its occupants. Lovett's amulets are held at the Pitt-Rivers Museum where they have remained archived and largely unseen. The amulets selected by Powell are uncanny: they are secrets brought to light.

Powell's own works address the strange allure of objects which are a source of comfort and compensation. Intricate miniatures, with white wax reliefs on black mirror slate, they carry the same intimacy of size as the amulets, and are meticulously crafted. Her portraits, which appear as inverted silhouettes, white on black, are all in a process of change, metamorphosing into other selves and creatures. Like Lovett's amulets, they seem to be more than themselves, hinting at a hidden magic at work, as they dip between real and imagined worlds. Using the reverse side of a mirror, Powell hides away literal reflection but leaves the viewer wondering at their playful and compelling strangeness.

Film works projected in the gallery see the wax reliefs in animation, featuring the hands of the artist as she works, alongside medical scans of her body overlaid with drawn images of amulets from the Lovett collection. These films, with music by William Basinski, create imagery and forms that relate directly to the objects on display and to the artist’s own desire for wellbeing.

Ken Arnold, Head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection, says: "These two exhibitions explore rich traditions of everyday faith and health, presenting us with objects from across cultures, all invested with extraordinary personal potency. Sometimes comforting, other times strange, both simply made and exquisitely wrought: these exhibits give us insight into centuries of charmed lives and miraculous events."

A full programme of events will accompany the exhibition.

Miracles & Charms runs from 6 October 2011 to 26 February 2012.

You can find out more about this exhibition--which runs from October 6th 2011 to February 26 2012--by clicking here.

Image credits:

1. Amulet from the Lovett Collection Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. (L0069108)
2. Amulet from the Lovett Collection Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. (L0069107)
3. Amulet from the Lovett Collection Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. (L0069255)
4. Amulet from the Lovett Collection Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (L0069216)
5. Votive on tin, 1840 Credit: Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones / INAH (L0069314)
6. Votive on tin, 1856 Credit: Museo Nacional de Historia - INAH (L0069326)
7. Votive on tin, 1861 Credit: Museo Nacional de Historia - INAH (L0069334)
8. Votive on tin, 1940 Credit: Santuario de San Francisco de Asis de la Diócesis de Matehuala / INAH (L0069348)
9. Extruding coral Credit: Felicity Powell (L0069400)

Anthropomorphic Taxidermy with Sue Jeiven: New Episode of The Midnight Archive

The Midnight Archive is a web-based video documentary series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from Observatory," the Brooklyn-based event/gallery space I founded a few years ago. A new episode--this one based on the lovely and inspiring Sue Jeiven, who taught a beloved and continuously sold-out class on anthropomorphic taxidermy at Observatory--has just been released; you can view it above by clicking play.

Here is what Ronni Thomas, the man behind the series, has to say about this particular episode:

From the occult streets of midtown manhattan to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn where Sue Jeiven is breathing new life into dead animals. We sat with Sue who teaches classes on Anthropomorphic Taxidermy at the Brooklyn Observatory to get some info on this unique and interesting art form.

EPISODE 03 : Anthropomorphic Taxidermy -- This episode brings us the cutest little thing ever to rip the guts out of a dead cadaver. I was very grateful when Sue Jeiven, a tattoo artist of East River Tattoo in brooklyn agreed to let me film her to chat about turning mice into little men. Here we discuss the history and process and facination behind a very old and very odd artform; anthropomorphic taxidermy. As Sue will explain, its the process of taking an animal's skin, preparing it, and putting it in a human-like setting. It sounds much more charming coming from sue. So have a look and if you are interested, she is planning a book on taxidermy in addition to occasionally teaching students how to 'DIY' their own little mouse or squirrel. Check in at the Brooklyn Observatory in hopes she adds another class in the future!

For more on the series, to see former episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list so as to be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and thus be alerted--by clicking here. To find out more about Observatory, click here. To be alerted to future classes taught by Sue Jeiven, click here to sign up for the Observatory mailing list.

Also, to see brand new episodes in person and meet the filmmaker, please come to the Observatory Halloween/Day of the Dead/Screening party! Click here for more on that.

Collection of 29 Horses Teeth, Louis Auzoux (1797-1880), Papier Mache

This collection of 29 horses' teeth was assembled by Louis Auzoux (1797-1880), a French doctor who made models of humans, animals and plants for use in teaching medicine and anatomy.

They demonstrate how horses' teeth age, the effects of wind-sucking and crib-biting, and the fraudulent methods employed to make horses seem older or younger than their true age.

While traditional anatomical models used wax, Dr Auzoux's then-secret mixture of papier mache, cork, clay, paper and glue proved far sturdier, as well as cheaper.

Many of his models of fungi, foetuses, mulberries and May beetles, as well as a complete human body that opens to reveal the skull and internal organs, are held by the University of Cambridge's Whipple Museum of the History of Science.

Part of the department of history and philosophy of science, the museum also houses a large collection of early scientific books and instruments dating from the Middle Ages to the present, including telescopes, sundials, early slide rules, pocket electronic calculators and laboratory apparatus.

Text and image found here.

Job Opening: Assistant Conservator, The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Fascinating job alert! Full details below.

Assistant Conservator
The Royal College of Surgeons of England

£20,000 pa (36 month contract starting 4 January 2012)
Central London

With a worldwide reputation for educational excellence and state-of-the art teaching facilities, the Royal College of Surgeons of England is committed to enabling surgeons to achieve and maintain the highest standards of surgical practice and patient care. Our Museums and archives, including the renowned Hunterian Museum, offer a fascinating and vital insight into medical history and are an invaluable teaching aid that need constant care and attention.

As part of the Museums and Archives team, in this training post you will learn the skills involved in caring for comparative and human anatomy across the RCS collections. As well as auditing, monitoring and recording the integrity of our collections, you'll clean and maintain items, monitor the environmental conditions in the museums and stores and dispose of conservation waste material safely. Remedial conservation such as preserving, mounting and refurbishing will also be an important part of the role, as will ordering the necessary materials and equipment and working with the Head of Conservation to refine and develop efficient and safe conservation techniques. Last but not least, you'll recruit, induct and supervise the volunteers working on zoological materials within the museums.

Ideally with a relevant degree or museum qualification, but definitely holding a level 3 vocational qualification or equivalent, you also have practical experience of working in a museum or similar environment. A sound understanding of safe practice in the workplace is also essential, including awareness of Health & Safety issues. Reliable, consistent and with a 'can-do' approach, you're adept with Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Outlook and Excel. What's more, you have clear communication skills, an openness to new ideas and the ability to follow technical instructions. The post involves coming into contact with heavy objects and some hazardous chemicals for which full training will be given. Any experience of handling human or animal tissues in a museum or laboratory context would also be an advantage.

Benefits include:

25 days' holiday (plus 4 closure days)
Defined Benefit pension scheme
Flexitime
Subsidised restaurant
In-house gym and squash court
For further information on this role and to apply please visit www.rcseng.ac.uk/about/working using reference 25/11.

Closing date: 2nd October 2011

We are an employer fully committed to our equality and diversity policies. We will judge you on your abilities and nothing else.

More on the job can be found here.

Photos of specimens from the Hunterian Museum of The Royal College of Surgeons of England by Elaine Duigenan; more here.

Halloween and Day of the Dead Party with New Episodes of Ghoul A Go-Go and The Midnight Archive, Costume Contest, Music, and More!

Hallween/Day of the Dead/Costume Contest/Screening party, anyone? Hope very much to see you there.

Halloween and Day of the Dead Party with New Episodes of Ghoul A Go-Go and The Midnight Archive, Costume Contest, Music, and More!
Date: Saturday, October 22
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $12
Presented by Morbid Anatomy and Borderline Projects

Please join us on Saturday, October 22 for a Halloween/Day of the Dead costume party featuring brand new episodes of Ghoul A Go-Go and The Midnight Archive, as well as burlesque, music, piñatas, food, beverages, sugar skulls, a costume contest, and more! Please, please (!!!) come in costume! All costumes welcomed!

The night's amusements will include:

ENTERTAINMENT!

• Ghoul a Go Go: Premiere of a brand new episode
• The Midnight Archive: Two new episodes of The Midnight Archive, Ronni Thomas' new web series based on Observatory
• Music: Wavy gravy Halloween music for the all night dance party
• Burlesque: A creepy Burlesque performance by Lil' Miss Lixx
  

FOOD AND DRINK!

• Traditional Food and Drink Specials throughout the evening
  

COSTUME CONTEST!

• Prizes for costumes inspired by either Vlad, Creighton, The Invisible Man, or any of the clips featured on Ghoul a Go Go

TRADITIONAL DAY OF THE DEAD ATTRACTIONS!

• Day of the Dead Altar: Altar de Muertos, an installation by Rebeca and Salvador Olguin celebrating Mexico and its past, history and culture
• Face painting: Have the Kiss of Death painted on your face by La Catrina
• Pan de Muerto: Indulge in this traditional dessert called Bread of Death
• Piñata: Dash death to smithereens with our annual death piñata!
• Sugar skulls: Decorate and eat or bring home your own Day of the Dead sugar skull
• Offerings to the Departed: In some places in Mexico, people leave small, coffin-like figures out for the souls of the departed. Guests are invited to leave their own offering; they will be available at the installation

More information here; Hope to see you there.

Image: El Jarabe en Ultratumba (The Folk Dance Beyond the Grave), Jose Guadalupe Posada

Apex Art Resident Conversation, Wednesday, September 28th, 6:30 PM

For those of you interested in hearing about my month in Seoul, South Korea as part of the Apex Art Outbound Residency program--and seeing some photos as well--you will have a chance next Wednesday, September 28th at the Apex Art Resident Conversation. The event is free is open to the public. Full details follow; Hope to see you there!

Apex Art Resident Conversation
Date: Wednesday, September 28
Time: 6:30 pm
Address: Apex Art, 291 Church Street New York, NY 10013
Joanna Ebenstein, Outbound Resident to Seoul, South Korea, in conversation with past apexart Outbound Residents, including Valerie Crosswhite who participated in the Seoul exchange in 2010.

You can find out more here. Hope to see you there!

The Midnight Archive Episode 2: Occult New York Part 1, Online and Available for Viewing!

As mentioned in this previous post, The Midnight Archive is a new web-based documentary series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from Observatory," the Brooklyn-based event/gallery space I founded a few years ago. The series is created and directed by film-maker Ronni Thomas, who has plans to upload approximately one new episode per week to the new Midnight Archive website.

Episode two of The Midnight Archive--entitled Occult New York Part 1, and featuring the ever fascinating and many-time Observatory presenter Mitch Horowitz--has just been uploaded is now available for viewing! You can view it above or on The Midnight Archive website.

For more on the series, to see former episodes, or to sign up for the mailing list so as to be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and thus be alerted--by clicking here.

Master Pieces from Itinerant Art, Auction Sale of the Fabienne & François Marchal Collection of Fairground Art at Drouot Montaign, Paris

PARIS, FRANCE – Auction sale of the Fabienne & François Marchal Collection of Fairground Art at Drouot Montaigne on September 28-29, 2011. Held by Cornette de Saint-Cyr with nearly 900 lots including a portable Alfred Chanvin & anon. carousel with wooden horses. Selected auction pieces will be shown at Drouot Montaigne from Sept. 7-18. The entire collection will be displayed at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre from Sept. 23-26.

The Fairground was a major vector of communication in the 19th century, popularizing scientific and medical inventions, as epitomized here by wax anatomical figures from the Palace Museum. The Fabienne & François Marchal Collection is the fruit of many years devoted to the safeguard of a specific aspect of our artistic and cultural heritage.

Among the historic and/or rare items will be some 80 wooden horses and 160 other carousel animals, dating from 1850-1960, including a Van Guyse Noah’s Ark; Spooner centaurs; and rare animals by Mathieu & Bayol. Various target games, wheels of fortune and a music hall shy or bouffes-balles will be among the historic fairground games. There will also be numerous decorative items (monumental figures, caryatides, stall fronts, merry-go-round elements), including large triumphant figures by Alexandre Devos, and salon carousel decorative elements by Anton Benner.

All images from the Cornette de Saint Cyr auction house website; text from The Carousel News and Trader. You can find out more--and bid on these lots and many, many more!--by clicking here.

Theatrum Anatomicum, Caspar Bauhin, 1605

Caspar Bauhin Theaturm Anatomicum 1605
Description: [xvi], 1314 pp. Engraved title page with engraved portrait on verso, engraved armorial device on verso of following leaf; 129 engraved plates included in pagination. (8vo) 7½x4¾, contemporary full vellum, yapp edges, lacking closure ties. First Edition.Page 175, intended for Plate 20 of Book 1 curiously left unprinted, perhaps a prudish expurgation of a depiction of the male reproductive system. Bauhin (1560-1624) was born at Basel and studied medicine at Padua, Montpellier, and Tubingen (under the botanist Leonhard Fuchs). On his return to Basel in 1580, he was admitted to the degree of doctor, and gave private lectures in botany and anatomy. In 1582 he was appointed to the Greek professorship in that university, and in 1588 to the chair of anatomy and botany. He was later made city physician, professor of the practice of medicine, rector of the university, and dean of his faculty. His anatomical publications drew criticism from the followers of Galen, as did his work on human anatomical nomenclature, particularly of the muscles, but his system was adopted by subsequent anatomists. This work has fine dissection plates in greater number than his earlier books. GM-379
Place Published:
Date Published: Frankfurt

Click on images to see larger versions. Text and most images from Live Auctioneers; other image from Elettrogenica.

Upcoming Observatory Events This September

19th century-inspired immersive amusements at Coney Island! Kraftwerk multi-media presentation! Erotic Death in Victorian Art and Fashion! Hope to see you at one or more of these great upcoming Observatory events.

The Making of a 19th Century Spectacle: Artist Talk at The Coney Island Museum
Date: Thursday, September 22
Time: 7:30 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy and The Coney Island Museum
***Location: Off-site at The Coney Island Museum (1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn)

On an average day in Coney Island around 1900, a visitor might be able to experience: A midget village modeled on 16th century Nuremberg and featuring its own parliament, hotel, stables with midget ponies, vaudeville house, and midget fire department rushing off to put out imaginary fires; A recreation of the destruction of Pompeii by volcano, San Francisco by earthquake, Galveston by flood, and/or Titanic by iceberg; A recreation village of the head-hunting Bontac Tribe of the Philippines with real tribes-people on display; An immersive spectacular which staged tenement fires every half hour and featured a cast of 2,000; A Boer War reenactment featuring real Boer War veterans; A trip to the moon, under the sea, or to heaven and hell by way of being buried alive in a glass coffin; and, as they say, much, much more.

In the exhibition The Great Coney Island Spectacularium, Observatory's Joanna Ebenstein and artist Aaron Beebe seek--via installation, artifacts, and newly commissioned artworks--to explore, celebrate, and evoke turn of the 20th Century Coney Island as the pinnacle of pre-cinematic immersive and spectacular amusement. The centerpiece of the exhibition is The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire, an immersive 360 degree spectacle based on the great panoramas and cosmoramas that populated Coney Island in the 19th century. It tells the story--in an immersive blend of image, sound, and light--of the most spectacular disaster in Coney Island history: the complete and dramatic destruction of Dreamland, one of the three great parks that made up turn of the century Coney Island, by fire 100 years ago in 1911. Dreamland was never rebuilt, but had it been, Ebenstein and Beebe are certain it would have given pride of place to a disaster spectacle that allowed visitors to experience the great fire that had once destroyed it. The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire is their attempt to create this attraction that should have been, and to allow contemporary audiences to experience a 19th century-style immersive spectacle of the sort celebrated in the exhibition.

This Thursday September 22, the crew behind the conception and construction--which include Observatory's Joanna Ebenstein and Wythe Marschall as well as sound engineers, scenic painters, lighting designers, and artisans from the Metropolitan Opera and other institutions--will be on hand at The Coney Island Museum to discuss the making of the piece, answer your questions, and lead guided tours of the exhibition.

World of Kraftwerk: A Journey In Music
Multimedia presentation with musician and writer Stephen Vesecky
Date: Friday, September 23
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

The Autobahn; The Man Machine; The Model. Rising from the ruins of post-war Germany, Kraftwerk created a new artform of sound and light, drawing not on the dominant American culture, but instead looking back to the utopian futurism of Fritz Lang and the Bauhaus architects. Defiant of the rock 'n' roll leviathan, they fashioned their own electronic instruments, with which they invented a new language for pop music. In so doing, they created a blueprint for the musical landscape that we see around us today; hip hop, synth pop, global dj culture, modern dance music--all were inspired by Kraftwerk's obsessive electronic poetry.

Tonight, join musician and writer Stephen Vesecky for a multimedia presentation celebrating and elucidating the unlikely but true story of this incredible band. Dr Maz of Mondo and DeLuxe will spin Kraftwerk-inspired records for the after-party.

Stephen Vesecky has played and toured with many new wave/indie bands including Poundsign, Mahogany, the Aisler's Set, and Still Flyin'. He now writes music for his current project, Strega, DJs at Lolita Bar in Manhattan and Bar Reis in Brooklyn, and creates music for soundtracks and promotional videos.

Erotic Death in Victorian Art and Fashion
An Illustrated Lecture with Professor Deborah Lutz
Date: Friday, September 30th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

The Victorians had a different relationship to the dead body and dying than we do today. Painters in the late-Romantic style created beautiful men and women ravaged by death; they depicted dying as a moment of climax and aesthetic perfection. Locks of hair were snipped from the corpse and woven into jewelry: a form of mourning that revered the body and its parts, even after death. Body-part stories told of the deep desire to possess the pieces of the famous dead. We will look at some of these paintings and objects, with a view toward recuperating this willingness to dwell with loss itself, to linger over the evidence of death’s presence woven into the texture of life.

Deborah Lutz is an Associate Professor at Long Island University, C.W. Post. Her first book—The Dangerous Lover: Gothic Villains, Byronism, and the Nineteenth-Century Seduction Narrative—traces a literary history of the erotic outcast. Her second book—Pleasure Bound: Victorian Sex Rebels and the New Eroticism—explores mid-Victorian sexual rebellion. She is currently working on a book about the materialism of Victorian death culture and “secular relics”: little things treasured because they belonged to the dead.

Image: Victorian hair plume palette work brooch with seed pearls and curled wire work, circa 1870. Found on the Morning Glory Antiques website.

To be alerted to future events, "like" Morbid Anatomy on Facebook by clicking here or sign up for the Obesrvatory mailer by clicking here. More on all events here. Touy can find out more about these events by clicking here.

Fritz Kahn: Making Sense of the Human Body, Lecture, NYC, September 21

Wow. News of this awesome sounding lecture just in; Hope to see you there!

Fritz Kahn: Making Sense of the Human Body
Date: Wednesday, September 21
Registration will begin at 7:00pm.
Presentation will begin at 7:30pm.
Price: $12

We are pleased to have Thilo von Debschitz from Germany in our next SenseMaker Dialogs to speak on Fritz Kahn. Born in 1888, Fritz Kahn was a doctor and a world-famous popular science writer who illustrated the form and function of the human body with spectacular, modern industrial analogies. Kahn's magnum opus, the five-volume series Das Leben des Menschen (The Life of Man), was published in 1922 to international accolade; his intricate and elegant depictions of the human body as a functioning machine influenced artists and scientists for decades to come. Fritz Lang's film Metropolis was greatly inspired by Fritz Kahn's aesthetic.

However, Fritz Kahn's sucess was abruptly ended when the Nazis rose to power. Because of the oppressive censorship during the Third Reich, most of the works by Fritz Kahn, a Jewish intellectual, were banned, publicly burned and destroyed. In pursuit of Kahn's nearly lost legacy, Thilo and his sister Uta tracked down rare gems in second-hand books stores, combed international archives, and followed biographical leads from far-flung sources. The result is the first monograph about Fritz Kahn published worldwide, Fritz Kahn–Man Machine, which Thilo will speak about on September 21.

Thilo von Debschitz, a German designer and art director, worked at well-known international advertising and design agencies before founding his own creative agency Q in 1997. Q has won numerous national and international awards and honors, such as the European Design Award in 2011, in communication design, interactive design, and print design.

In addition to his agency business, Thilo von Debschitz enjoys editorial projects. His recent, most passionate book project was initiated by mere chance and published in collaboration with his sister, Uta: Fritz Kahn–Man Machine, the first monograph about Dr. Fritz Kahn (1888-1968). Fritz Kahn–Man Machine offers readers an overview of the life and work of Fritz Kahn, a pioneer of information design, whose genius lay in his ability to bring clarity to the mysteries of nature through analogies, metaphors, and humor. At the SenseMaker Dialogs, Thilo von Debschitz will not only present an introduction to Fritz Kahn, but also discuss cognitive visual concepts by other creative thinkers, some of whom have been influenced by Fritz Kahn’s work.

For more, and to purchase tickets, click here. For more on the book Fritz Kahn–Man Machine--and to purchase a copy--click here. Also: added bonus: I have heard a rumor that there will some original Fritz Kahn artifacts on hand at the lecture... another reason to make it out of the house that evening.

Artist's Talk: The Creation of The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire at The Coney Island Museum, Sept. 22

As many of you already know, I am currently fulfilling the role of artist in residence at The Coney Island Museum. As such, last April I launched an exhibition there in collaboration with artist Aaron Beebe that will be on view until April of this year. Entitled "The Great Coney Island Spectacularium," the exhibition aims to explore, celebrate, and evoke through installation, artifacts, and newly commissioned works turn of the 20th Century Coney Island with its bizarre, spectacular and, amazingly, forgotten immersive amusements.

Although this seems nearly unbelievable, on an average day in Coney Island around 1900, one might be able to experience one or more of the following: A midget village modeled on 16th century Nuremberg and featuring its own parliament, hotel, stables with midget ponies, vaudeville house, and midget fire department rushing off to put out imaginary fires; A recreation of the destruction of Pompeii by volcano, San Francisco by earthquake, Galveston by flood, and/or Titanic by iceburg; Freakishly small premature infants battling for their lives in infant incubators; A recreation village of the head-hunting Bontac Tribe of the Philippines with real tribespeople on display; An immersive spectacular which staged tenement fires every half hour and featured a cast of 2,000; A Boer War reenactment featuring real Boer War veterans; A trip to the moon, under the sea, or to heaven and hell by way of being buried alive in a glass coffin; and, as they say, much, much more. How could this have all been forgotten, we ask in this exhibition, and our memory of Coney Island sanitized to a place of mere hotdogs, roller coasters, petty crime and freaks? What does it say about who we are now, and what have we lost in this historical omission?

The centerpiece of our exhibition is The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire, which is an immersive 360 degree spectacle based on the great panoramas and cosmoramas that populated Coney Island in the 19th century. It tells the story with image, sound, and light of the most spectacular disaster in Coney Island history: the complete and dramatic destruction of Dreamland, one of the three great parks that made up turn of the century Coney Island, by fire 100 years ago in 1911. Dreamland was never rebuilt, but had it been, Beebe and I are certain it would have given pride of place to a disaster spectacle that allowed visitors to experience the great fire that had destroyed it. The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire is our attempt to create the attraction that should have been, and to allow contemporary audiences to experience a 19th century-style immersive spectacle of the sort celebrated in the exhibition.

Next Thursday September 22, the crew behind the construction and conception of The Cosmorama--myself included--will be at The Coney Island Museum giving a presentation about the making of the piece, followed by guided tours of the exhibition. We will also be on hand to answer any questions you might have.

I think this will be a really great event. And for those of you who have yet to make it out to see the exhibition, a great excuse to finally make the trek and have a beer in the Cosmorama!

Full details follow. Very much hope very much to see you there!

Date: Thursday, September 22
Time: 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Admission: $5, Free for Coney Island USA Members.
Loction: The Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn

The Cosmorama of the Great Dreamland Fire is the first Cyclorama in Coney Island since Luna Park met its own fiery demise in the 1940's. The art of creating a full-scale immersive Victorian entertainment was lost to Coney Island's denizens until this year. Find out how the Coney Island Museum resurrected the theatrical skills and the know-how necessary to create a 360-degree painted panorama with sound and lights for the 21st century.

Aaron Beebe, director of the Coney Island Museum; Joanna Ebenstein, Artist in residence for 2011; and their collaborators will be on hand to discuss the ins-and-outs and the technology behind the Cosmorama, with detailed technical descriptions from the lighting designers, the scenic artists, and the producers of this new and exciting spectacle.

Beebe and Ebenstein will be joined by the artisans and craftspeople from the Metropolitan Opera and other institutions who helped make this work possible. Guided tours of the Cosmorama will be held.

More on The Great Coney Island Spectacularium can be found here. More on The Cosmorama can be found here.

Call for Papers: Sensualising Deformity: Communication and Construction of Monstrous Embodiment, Edinburgh, June 15-16

I just got word of a call for papers for an excellent sounding upcoming conference. Details below:

The University of Edinburgh
Sensualising Deformity: Communication and Construction of Monstrous Embodiment
June 15-16, 2012

Confirmed Plenary Speakers:

Prof. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
George Washington University

Dr. Peter Hutchings
Northumbria University

From freak exhibitions and fairs, medical examinations and discoveries to various portrayals in arts and literature, images of deformity (or monstrosity, used separately or interchangeably depending on context) have captivated us for centuries. The result is a significant body of critical and artistic works where these bodies are dissected, politicized, exhibited, objectified or even beatified. Nonetheless, there remains a gap, an unexplored, unspoken or neglected aspect of this complex field of study which needs further consideration. This two-day interdisciplinary conference aims to bring the senses and the sensuous back to the monstrous or deformed body from the early modern period through to the mid-twentieth century, and seeks to explore its implications in diverse academic fields.

We hope to bring together scholars and students from a wide range of disciplines to engage in a constructive dialogue, network, and exchange ideas and experiences, connecting a community of researchers who share a fascination with deformity, monstrosity, and freakery.

Possible topics may include (but are not limited to):

• Spectacle/fetishisation of monstrosity and deformity; monstrous sexuality/eroticisation
• The monster as a catalyst of progression/ historical perspectives
• Monstrous symbolism, prodigality, or beatification
• The racialised body; exoticising difference
• Monstrosity in medical literature; disability narratives
• Monstrous becoming; the ‘sensed’ body
• Deformed aesthetics; monstrosity in the visual arts
• (De) gendering the deformed body; humanisation vs objectification

We welcome proposals for 20-minute presentations from established scholars, postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students from various teratological backgrounds, e.g. in literature, history, media and art studies, philosophy, religious studies, history of science,medical humanities, and critical and cultural theory. Proposals should be no more than 300 words, in .doc format, and should include a brief 50-word biography.

Please submit your abstracts no later than 31 January 2012 to sdefconference@ed.ac.uk

Dr. Karin Sellberg (The University of Edinburgh)
Ally Crockford (The University of Edinburgh)
Maja Milatovic (The University of Edinburgh)

For more info, visit the conference blog by clicking here.

Image: From the conference blog, where they cite the images as courtesy of the BMJ Publishing Group, BMJ 1889, June 8; 1(1484): 1288–1289.

The Midnight Archive Episode 1: Modern Day Mummies, Online and Available for Viewing!

The Midnight Archives: Tales From the Observatory is a new web-based documentary series "centered around the esoteric and always exotic personalities that spring from Observatory," the Brooklyn-based event/gallery space I run with a handful of other collaborators. The series is created and directed by film-maker Ronni Thomas, who has plans to upload approximately one new episode per week to the new Midnight Archive website.

Episode one, entitled Modern Day Mummies--which documents the work of Sorceress Cagliastro, our esteemed Observatory mummification instructor--has just been uploaded and is now available for viewing! You can check out the video above, but make sure to keep visiting The Midnight Archive website (which can be found here) or sign up for their mailer in order to catch exciting, soon-to-be-uploaded episodes featuring such Observatory luminaries as anthropomorphic taxidermy teacher Sue Jeiven, automaton keeper Jere Ryder, and occult walking tour mastermind Mitch Horowitz. You can get a sense of some of the other pieces and personalities you have to look forward to by viewing the teaser on Boing Boing by clicking here.

And, just a quick FYI: We have a few last openings for Sorceress Cagliastro's next mummification class, which will take place October 9th; if you are interested in enrolling, please email me at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com; more on the class can be found here.

Embodied Fantasies: Multi-disciplinary Conference, SVA, October 28-30 2011

I have just been alerted to a pretty fantastic sounding conference that will be taking place at School of Visual Arts in New York City this October. Details follow; hope to see you there!

Embodied Fantasies:
International Conference
October 28-30 2011
SVA, Fine Arts Building
335 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

Embodied Fantasies, a concept central to art history, theory and practice is concurrently a topic debated in the fields of the neuro-and-cognitive sciences, philosophy and phenomenology. This theme will be addressed in a transdisciplinary conference hosting scholars and artists from the fields of architecture, art history, visual art, history of science and psychology among others. Discussions will focus on concepts of embodiment as they relate to sexuality, aesthetics, epistemology, perception and fantasy itself. Approaches to the role of fantasies will be viewed beyond traditional conceptions to include complex thinking processes, subjectivity, and the inter-subjective. Prominent attention will be paid to fantasies and images as a form of knowledge production.

Panel I: Oxymoronic Places and Spaces
Alex Arteaga: What Is a Fantasy in a Non-given World?
Sabine Flach: Negotiations and Metamorphosis: Visualizing Carsten Höllers' SOMA
Suzanne Anker: Neo-Neuro: Untangling Utopia
Boris Goesl: Star Arts or Celestial Embodiments
Dan Hutto: Moderator

Panel II: Ghost Hearts
Mark Dery: (title pending)
Alva Noe: Making Pictures, Making Worlds Available
Sabine Flach: Moderator

Panel III: Thwarted Expectations
Gerhard Scharbert: Fantasias: Experimental Induced Psychosis and Modern Aesthetics in 19th Century France
Arthur Miller: Creative Processes Within Fantasies: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung Frank Gillette: Experimental Epistemology: Patterns That Connect Dan Hutto: Embodied Imaginings
Alex Arteaga: Moderator

Plenary Speakers
Gabriele Brandstetter: Fantasies of the Catastrophe: Embodiment and Kinaesthetic Awareness in the Performance-installation of Naoko Tanaka's "Die Scheinwerferin" (2011)
Sabine Flach and Suzanne Anker: Moderators

Panel IV: Pose and Expose
Alexander Schwan: Body Calligraphies: Dance as an Embodied Fantasy of Writing
Nicola Hille: Embodied Fantasies: Spencer Tunick's Body Sculptures
Shelley Rice: The Grass is Always Greener: Self-Portraiture in the Age of Facebook
Suzanne Anker: Moderator

Panel V: Between the Flesh and the Shell
McKenzie Wark: A Minimum of Serious Seduction: The Situationist International as Embodied Fantasies
Zoran Terzić: From Phantasia to Phantasma – Embodied Notions and the Anticipation of Politics Through the Arts
Frank Gillette: Moderator

Panel VI: Shadowing Fire
Margareta Hesse: Carousels of Perception
Romana Filzmoser: Chimerizing the Body: Art theoretical Concepts of Fantasy in Italian and English 17 Century Obscene Literature
Laura Taler: SPIEGELEI: Affect as Lever
Mathius Kessler: (title pending)
Arthur Miller: Moderator

General Public: $150
Graduate and Undergraduate Students: $75
Order tickets via Eventbrite by clicking here.

Conference Organizers
Suzanne Anker
Chair, BFA Fine Arts Department
School of Visual Arts, NYC

PD Dr. Sabine Flach
Visiting Scholar
BFA Fine Arts Department
School of Visual Arts, NYC

You can see the full schedule and get more details by clicking here. You can purchase tickets by clicking here.

Image: Suzanne Anker, Embodied Fantasies, 2011. Inkjet print.

Morbid Anatomy Lecture in Korea, Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON, Thursday September 15th

If any of Morbid Anatomy readers out there happen to be in the vicinity of Seoul, Korea this Thursday, September 15th, why not stop by Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON where I will be giving a brief talk about my work and my time in Korea?

The event is free and open to the public and will take place at 4:00 PM in the workshop room of Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON. More here.

Anatomy in Korea with Dr. Oh

A few days ago, I met with the very lovely and generous anatomist Dr. Chang-Seok Oh, referred to me by my friend Ross MacFarlane. I had been interested in viewing medical or old natural history collections here in Seoul, and Dr. Oh had kindly offered to take me to see an anatomical collection of a Catholic university hospital where he had a contact. The collection had a number of interesting pieces, the most outstanding being a 17th Century mummy unearthed at an archeological excavation; there were also a number of forensic reconstructions. Images of the collection can be seen above.

Dr. Oh then took me back to his office, where we gushed about our shared interest in post-Vesalius/pre-Gray's Anatomy anatomical history, and where he shared with me his beautiful original copy of the 18th century Ontleedkundige Tafelen. This book, Dr. Oh explained to me, is of the greatest importance to Asian medicine, as it was the first Western medical book translated for Eastern consumption, published in Japan (with some additions from other texts) as Kaitai Shinsho in 1774. The book then made the rounds in Asia, changing the face of Eastern medicine forever. We did a side by side comparison of the original book and a facsimile of the 18th century Japanese Kaitai Shinsho; you can see those side by side comparisons above. I really liked the visual translation that occurs as the images move from the West to the East.

Click on images to see much larger, more detailed versions. Its worth it! And thanks to Ross MacFarlane and Deborah Leem for making this happen!