2012 Congress of Curious Peoples This Week at Coney Island!!!

Hi All! Just a reminder that the 2012 Congress of Curious Peoples--a 10-day series of lectures and performances devoted to curiosity and curiosities broadly considered, and featuring sideshow acts, lectures, performances, and a 2-day scholarly-yet-popular symposium called The Congress for Curious Peoples--launches in earnest tomorrow night, with a lecture by the always amazing Amy Herzog.

This year's iteration of The Congress promises to be the best yet; it will include a 2-day symposium featuring panel discussions on topics such as pre-cinematic immersive amusements and religion as spectacle, with featured speakers that include Sara Velas of The Velaslavasay Panorama; Paul Koudounaris of Empire of Death; Colin Nightingale, Senior Producer of Punchdrunk, the company behind the mindbendingly amazing Sleep No More Sleep; 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--and hopefully final!--lineup below; hope to see you at some--if not more--of the terrific events making up this year's Congress!

Monday April 16th
7:30 – (Lecture) Amy Herzog: Architectural Fictions: Economic Development, Immersive Renderings, and the Virtualization of Brooklyn (more here)
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” (more here)
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 (more here)
9:00 – (Performance) Jo Boobs

Thursday April 19th
7:30 – (Lecture/Demonstration) The Museum of Interesting Things, WHAT THE SAM HILL IS THAT! (more here)
9:00 – (Performance) The Curious Couple from Coney Island

Friday April 20th
7:30 – (Performance/Reading) A reading of VENUS by Suzan-Lori Parks. Directed by Donya K. Washington (more here)
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)

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FULL SYMPOSIUM DETAILS:
THE 2012 CONGRESS FOR CURIOUS PEOPLE
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 Museum

• Suzanne Wray
• Sara Velas, The Velaslavasay Panorama
• Jessica Routhier, The Saco Museum
• Russell Potter, Rhode Island College
• Denise Blake Oleksijczuk, Simon Fraser University

4:00 – 5:00: The Business of the Dead: Frederik Ruysch as an Entrepreneurial Anatomist, Lecture by Daniel Margocsy, Hunter College

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 Library

• 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

1:00 – 2:30: Lunch and Sideshow Visit

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, Freelance Director/Adapter
  
• Chris Muller, New York University
• Dick Zigun, Founder of Coney Island USA

Tickets 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!!!