I am SO very excited to (finally!) announce the lineup for this years' Congress of and for Curious Peoples, taking place this April 13-22 at Coney Island USA!
For those of you new to the concept, The Congress of Curious Peoples is a 10-day series of lectures and performances devoted to curiosity and curiosities broadly considered. If features sideshow acts, lectures, performances, and a 2-day scholarly-yet-popular symposium called The Congress for Curious Peoples, which is produced by The Morbid Anatomy Library in tandem with The Coney Island Museum.
This year's Congress for Curious Peoples symposium will feature panel discussions on such topics as pre-cinematic immersive amusements and religion as spectacle, while some of the featured speakers will be Sara Velas of The Velaslavasay Panorama; Paul Koudounaris of Empire of Death; an as-of-yet unnamed representative of the amazing Sleep No More; and Colin Dickey, author of Cranioklepty. Also featured will be stand-alone lectures on the 17th century artist of fetal skeleton tableaux Frederik Ruysch and the phenomenon of ethnographic displays called "human zoos," a screening of an over-the-top early 1970s TV Evangelist Christmas spectacular, and introductory lectures by myself and Coney Island Museum director Aaron Beebe.
Full lineup below; hope to see you at some--if not more--of the terrific events making up this year's Congress!
SYMPOSIUM: THE 2012 CONGRESS FOR CURIOUS PEOPLEAnd now, for the full 10-day Congress Schedule:
Saturday and Sunday, April 21st and 22nd
SATURDAY APRIL 21st
11:00 – 12:00: Keynote Addresses
- Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy Library
- Aaron Beebe, Coney Island Museum
12:00 – 1:00: Lunch
1:00 – 3:30: Immersive Amusements: Cosmoramas, Cycloramas and Panoramic Illusions: Panel discussion moderated and introduced by Aaron Beebe, The Coney Island Museum4:00 – 5:00: The Business of the Dead: Frederik Ruysch as an Entrepreneurial Anatomist, Lecture by Daniel Margocsy, Hunter College
- Suzanne Wray
- Sara Velas, The Velaslavasay Panorama
- Jessica Routhier, The Saco Museum
- Errki Huhtamo, UCLA
- Russell Potter, Rhode Island College
- Denise Blake Oleksijczuk, Simon Fraser University
5:00: Christmas in America: Miss Velma and the Evangelist Spectacle: Screening of “Christmas in America,” an early 1970s television special by Miss Velma, early TV evangelist, introduced by Daniel Paul
SUNDAY APRIL 22
11:00 – 1:00: Religion and Spectacle: A panel with discussion moderated and introduced by Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy Library1:00 – 2:30: Lunch and Sideshow Visit
- Paul Koudounaris, author of Empire of Death
- Shannon Taggart, Photographer
- The Venerable Tsering Phunstok
- Colin Dickey, author of Cranioklepty and Afterlives of the Saints
- Salvador Olguin, Borderline Projects
2:30 – 3:30: Traveling Ethnographic Shows and Human Zoos, a lecture by Elizabeth Bradley
3:30 – 5:30: Theater Rethunk: An Alternative History of the Theatrical: A panel with discussion moderated and introduced by Chris Muller
- Amy Herzog, Queens College
- Colin Nightingale, Senior Producer of Punchdrunk, Sleep No More
- Alex Harvey
- Chris Muller, New York University
- Dick Zigun, Founder of Coney Island USA
Friday, April 13Tickets for the symposium are available here; for tickets to individual events and lectures, click here; 10-day Congressional Passes--which provide access to all events!--are available here. All events take place at 1208 Surf Avenue in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York; you can map it here. See you there!!!
Opening Night Party featuring The Lizard Man and the annual inductions into the Sideshow Hall of Fame.
Saturday, April 14
Alumni Weekend at Sideshows by the Seashore (Continuous Admission, Tickets at the door); Colonnade of Curiosities in the Freak Bar.
Sunday, April 15
Alumni Weekend at Sideshows by the Seashore (Continuous Admission, Tickets at the door); Colonnade of Curiosities in the Freak Bar
Monday April 16th
7:30 – (Lecture) Amy Herzog: Architectural Fictions: Economic Development, Immersive Renderings, and the Virtualization of Brooklyn
9:00 – (Performance) Shea Love and the Circus Emporium
Tuesday April 17th
7:30 – (Lecture) Philip Kadish: “Pinhead Races and the White Man’s Burden”
9:00 – (Performance) The Squidling Bros Sideshow
Wednesday April 18th
7:30 -(Lecture/Performance) ‘An Evening of Fate, Chance and Mystery’ with Lord Whimsy and Les the Mentalist
9:00 – (Performance) Jo Boobs
Thursday April 19th
7:30 – (Lecture/Performance) Erkki Huhtamo: “Mareorama Revisited”
9:00 – (Performance) The Curious Couple from Coney Island
Friday April 20th
7:30 – (Performance/Reading) TBA
9:00 – (Performance/Lecture) Sideshow Legend Jim Rose
Saturday April 21st
Super Freak Weekend at Sideshows by the Seashore (Continuous Admission, Tickets at the door); Colonnade of Curiosities in the Freak Bar
Congress For Curious People (Day 1 of a 2-day Symposium)
Sunday April 22nd
Super Freak Weekend at Sideshows by the Seashore (Continuous Admission, Tickets at the door); Colonnade of Curiosities in the Freak Bar
Congress For Curious People (Day 2 of a 2-day Symposium)
1 comment:
What is the source on the picture in your poster? The image with the hands is striking!
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