I am delighted to announce a variety of Morbid Anatomy events
taking place over the next few months.
This Sunday, June 2nd we will be hosting our popular Victorian art of memorial hair jewelry class where students will learn to make--and leave with their very own!--piece of Victorian-inspired memorial hair jewelry. The class was inspired by our love of Victorian memorial hair jewelry, an especially beautiful expression of the Victorian cult of mourning in which he hair of the (often deceased) beloved was used in a decorative fashion to create a memorial or commemorative keepsake.
On June 1st--the night before this class--we will be hosting a Coney Island Mermaid Parade benefit party. All proceeds from this special "Mermaids of the Gowanus" evening will go towards Coney Island USA's Kickstarter campaign to save this year's Hurricane Sandy-endangered annual parade. The event will feature burlesque, belly dancing and a silent auction. Due to space limitations, tickets must be pre-purchased; details on that below.
for a demonstration antique quack medical devices from his collection,
while on Thursday, June 6 we will have an illustrated lecture
with professor
about the history and science of "morbid curiosity" (June 6). We also
have a new taxidermy class: Guinea Pig Taxidermy Class with Rogue Taxidermist Katie Innamorato on Sunday, June 9, and a newly added Bat Dome Workshop (Sunday, June 16) as well as a
variety of classes in taxidermy, anthropomorphic insect shadow boxes, and Dance of Death linocuts.
Also, for UK-based readers, don't miss our special 2-month series of
events, workshops,
special backstage tours, screenings and spectacles surveying the
interstices of
art and medicine, death and culture beginning this Sunday, June 2, and running through July 25 at
in London.
Hair
jewelry was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that began
in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the Victorian
Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased in metal
lockets or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class
will explore a modern take on the genre.
The technique of "palette
working" or arranging hair in artful swoops and curls will be explored
and a variety of ribbons, beads, wire and imagery of mourning
iconography will be supplied for potential inclusion. A living or
deceased person or pet may be commemorated in this manner.
Students
are requested to bring with them to class their own hair, fur, or
feathers; all other necessary materials will be supplied. Hair can be
self-cut, sourced from barber shops or hair salons (who are usually
happy to provide you with swept up hair), from beauty supply shops (hair
is sold as extensions), or from wig suppliers. Students will leave
class with their own piece of hair jewelry and the knowledge to create
future projects.
Morbid Curiosity, or Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away
An Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing with author Eric G. Wilson
Date: Thursday, June 6
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Produced by
Morbid Anatomy
"Why
can’t we look away? Whether we admit it or not, we’re fascinated by
evil. Dark fantasies, morbid curiosities, Schadenfreude: As conventional
wisdom has it, these are the symptoms of our wicked side, and we
succumb to them at our own peril. But we’re still compelled to look
whenever we pass a grisly accident on the highway, and there’s no
slaking our thirst for gory entertainments like horror movies and police
procedurals. What makes these spectacles so irresistible? Author Eric
G. Wilson attempts to discover the source of our morbid fascinations,
drawing on the findings of biologists, sociologists, psychologists,
anthropologists, philosophers, theologians, and artists. A professor of
English with a penchant for Poe as well as a lifelong student of the
macabre, Wilson believes there’s something nourishing in darkness. He
believes that to repress death is to lose the feeling of life, and that a
closeness to death discloses our most fertile energies.
Eric G Wilson
is Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English at Wake Forest University
and author of several books that explore the power of life's darker
sides, including
Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away;
Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy; and
The Mercy of Eternity: A Memoir of Depression and Grace.
____________________________________________________
Guinea Pig Taxidermy Class - Intro to Basic Taxidermy with Rogue Taxidermist Katie InnamoratoDate: Sunday, June 9
Time: 12 – 6:30 PM
Price: $150
Email:
katie.innamorato(at)gmail(dot)com or
afterlifeanatomy(at)gmail(dot)com to sign up.
This class is part of
The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
This
class will introduce students to the process and techniques behind
basic taxidermy. Students will learn how to skin, prep, preserve, mount,
and position the animal. The class instructor will provide all
specimens, materials, and tools for the class. Each student will leave
with their own finished mount!
***Nothing was harmed for this
class, these animals were raised to feed large reptiles and would
otherwise be discarded if not sold.
Katie Innamorato,
artist and Rogue Taxidermist, is a member of the M.A.R.T. or Minnesota
Association of Rogue Taxidermists. She is professionally and self taught
in taxidermy; winning awards and ribbons every year at the GSTA. She
explores the commercial relationships between animals and our society
and her work questions the idea of bringing nature inside. She also
examines the cyclical connections between life and death, and growth and
decomposition. As with all M.A.R.T. members she adheres to strict
ethical guidelines when acquiring specimens. She uses roadkill, scrap
skins from other taxidermists and the garment industry, and donated
skins to create her artworks; almost every part of the animal is
utilized.
Her work has been featured recently on the new Science
Channel show, "Odd Folks Home," on the hit Science and Discovery Channel
TV show, "Oddities," and exhibited at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los
Angeles, CA.
Her website and blogs-
www.afterlifeanatomy.com
www.afterlifeanatomy.tumblr.com
www.facebook.com/afterlifeanatomy
www.etsy.com/shop/afterlifeanatomy
____________________________________________________
"It Hurts When I Do This" An illustrated History of Quack Medicine through the Artifacts of The Museum of Interesting Things
Antique Medical Device Demonstration with Denny Daniel,
The Museum of Interesting Things
Date: Thursday, June 13
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8
Presented by
Morbid Anatomy
In
the handful of centuries documented by mankind, medicine evolved
through discovery and practice, with each era experimenting with the
technology of its time in a quest to understand the human machine,
suppress pain, and vanquish disease and, perhaps, death itself. Some of
the techniques employed by our relentless ancestors now seem rather odd,
inappropriate or, sometimes, just... brutal.
Tonight, join us for a night of bizarre health machinery hosted by Denny Daniel, proud collector and owner of
The Museum of Interesting Things.
Daniel will trace the evolution--or, sometimes, lack thereof!-- of
medical devices advances via an interactive demonstration of objects
from his own collection ranging from magnetic quack medical devices to
prosthetics, glass eyes and civil war and early 20th century surgical
tools, dental devices including tooth keys and 19th century foot pump
dental drills, pill molds, and medicines that worked (or didn’t)!
Come see and feel actual items from the 1800’s and 1900’s. We will cure you of your ailments.
____________________________________________________
Bat in Glass Dome Workshop
Part of DIY Wunderkammer Series: With Wilder Duncan (formerly of
Evolution Shop, Soho) and Laetitia Barbier, head librarian at The Morbid
Anatomy Library
Date: Sunday, June 16
Time: 1 – 6 PM
Admission: $200
In
this class, students will learn how to create an osteological
preparation of a bat in the fashion of 19th century zoological displays.
A bat skeleton, a glass dome, branches, glue, tools, and all necessary
materials will be provided for each student, but one should feel welcome
to bring small feathers, stones, dried flowers, dead insects, natural
elements, or any other materials s/he might wish to include in his/her
composition. Students will leave the class with a visually striking,
fully articulated, “lifelike” bat skeleton posed in a 10” tall glass
dome. This piece can, in conjunction with the other creations in the DIY
Wunderkammer workshop series, act as the beginning of a genuine
collection of curiosities!
This class is part of the
DIY Wunderkammer workshop series, curated by
Laetitia Barbier and
Wilder Duncan
for Morbid Anatomy as a creative and pluridisciplinary exploration of
the Curiosity Cabinet. The classes will focus on teaching ancient
methods of specimen preparation that link science with art: students
will create compositions involving natural elements and, according to
their taste, will compose a traditional Victorian environment or a
modern display. More on the series can be found
here.
Wilder Duncan
is an artist whose work puts a modern-day spin on the genre of Vanitas
still life. Although formally trained as a realist painter at Wesleyan
University, he has had a lifelong passion for, and interest in, natural
history. Self-taught rogue taxidermist and professional specimen
preparator, Wilder worked for several years at The Evolution Store
creating, repairing, and restoring objects of natural historical
interest such as taxidermy, fossils, seashells, minerals, insects,
tribal sculptures, and articulated skeletons both animal and human.
Wilder continues to do work for private collectors, giving a new life to
old mounts, and new smiles to toothless skulls.
____________________________________________________
Squirrel Taxidermy and the Ancient Technique of Wrapped Body with Rogue Taxidermist Katie Innamorato
Date: Sunday, June 23
Time: 12 - 6.30
Admission: $275
***Maximum class size: 8 Students; Must RSVP to
katie.innamorato [at] gmail.com
This class is part of
The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
This
class will introduce students to basic taxidermy processes. As with
other classes, this is only open to 8 students to allow for a more
intimate one on one environment. Each student will be provided with
their own squirrel which they will skin, flesh, and prep for mounting.
Students will be taught how to wrap bodies for the animals using the
carcasses for reference. Wrapping is an old school traditional taxidermy
process that many taxidermists do not bother with today. Pre-sculpted
head forms will be available for students, but if they are feeling more
adventurous they can carve their own! Students will be able to pose
their squirrels however they want and are encouraged to bring in any
props they may want to dress the animal up in, and items to secure their
mounts on. Animal remains will be collected at the end of class and
either the students can take them with them, or the instructor will
dispose of them.
Rogue taxidermist
Katie Innamorato
has a BFA in sculpture from SUNY New Paltz, has been featured on the
hit TV show "Oddities," and has had her work featured at La Luz de Jesus
gallery in Los Angeles, California. She is self and professionally
taught, and has won multiple first place ribbons and awards at the
Garden State Taxidermy Association Competition. Her work is focussed on
displaying the cyclical connection between life and death and growth and
decomposition. Katie is a member of the Minnesota Association of Rogue
Taxidermists, and with all M.A.R.T. members she adheres to strict
ethical guidelines when acquiring specimens and uses roadkill, scrap,
and donated skins to create mounts.
Her website and blogs-
www.afterlifeanatomy.com
www.afterlifeanatomy.tumblr.com
www.facebook.com/afterlifeanatomy
www.etsy.com/shop/afterlifeanatomy
____________________________________________________
Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Class with Divya Anantharaman
Date: Friday, June 14
Time: 6:30 - 10 PM
Admission: $110
Advance Tickets Required; Click
here to purchase
Email
divya.does.taxidermy at gmail dot com with questions or to be put on wait list
Class limit: 10
This class is part of the
Morbid Anatomy Art Academy
Anthropomorphic
taxidermy--in which taxidermied animals are posed into human attitudes
and poses--was an artform made famous by Victorian taxidermist and
museologist Walter Potter. In this class, students will learn to
create--from start to finish--anthropomorphic mice inspired by the
charming and imaginative work of Mr. Potter and his ilk. With the
creative use of props and some artful styling, you will find that your
mouse can take nearly whatever form you desire, from a bespectacled,
whiskey swilling, top hat tipping mouse to a rodent mermaid queen of the
burlesque world.
In this class, Divya Anantharaman--who learned her craft under the tutelage of famed Observatory instructor
Sue Jeiven--will
teach students everything involved in the production of a fully
finished mount, including initial preparation, hygiene and sanitary
measures, fleshing, tail stripping, and dry preservation. Once properly
preserved, the mice will be posed and outfitted as the student desires.
Although a broad selection of props and accessories will be provided by
the instructor, students are also strongly encouraged to bring their own
accessories and bases; all other materials will supplied. Each student
will leave class with a fully finished piece, and the knowledge to
create their own pieces in the future.
Also, some technical notes:
- We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
- Everyone will be provided with gloves.
- All animals are disease free.
- Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone
- All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class.
- Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the class.
____________________________________________________
Morbid Anatomy Presents at London's Last Tuesday Society this June and July
A series of London-based events, workshops, special tours,
screenings and spectacles surveying the interstices of art and medicine,
death and culture curated by Observatory's Morbid Anatomy
Date: June 2 - July 25
Time: Variable, but most lectures begin at 7 PM
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here) unless otherwise specified
The
series will feature Morbid Anatomy's signature mix of museum
professionals, professors, librarians, artists, rogue scholars, and
autodidacts--many flown in direct from Morbid Anatomy's base in
Brooklyn, New York--to elucidate on a wide array of topics including
(but not limited to!) The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead; "human zoos;"
"speaking reliquaries;" why music drives women mad; eccentric folk
medicine collections; Santa Muerte (or "Saint Death); dissection and
masturbation; dissection and
magic; Victorian memorial hair
jewelry; the "hot nurse" in popular fiction; The Danse Macabre; "a
cinematic survey of The Vampires of London;" and anatomical waxworks and
death.
There will be also two special backstage tours: one of the
legendary Blythe House, home of the vast and incredible collection of
Henry Wellcome and the other of the Natural History Museum's zoological
collection, featuring the famously gorgeous Blaschka invertebrate glass
model collection; a special magic lantern show featuring "the weirdest,
most inappropriate and completely baffling examples of lantern imagery"
conjured by collector and scholar Professor Heard
, author of
Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern;
a screening of rare short films from the BFI National Archive
documenting folk music, dance, customs and sport; and workshops in the
creation of Victorian hair work, lifelike wax wounds, and bat skeletons
in glass domes.
_______________________________
 |
Bubonic Plague by
workshop teacher
Eleanor Crook |
Wax Wound Workshop with medical artist Eleanor Crook
2nd June 2013
1 to 5pm
Ticket price £120 - all materials included
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Let
acclaimed sculptor Eleanor Crook guide you in creating your very own
wax wound. Crook has lent her experience to professionals ranging from
forensic law enforcement officers to plastic surgeons, so is well placed
to help you make a horrendously lifelike scar, boil or blister. More
details to be confirmed shortly.
Eleanor Crook
trained in sculpture at Central St Martins and the Royal Academy and
makes figures and effigies in wax, carved wood and lifelike media. She
has also made a special study of anatomy and has sculpted anatomical and
pathological waxworks for the Gordon Museum of Pathology at Guy's
Hospital, London's Science Museum, and the Royal College of Surgeons of
England. She exhibits internationally in both fine art and science
museum contexts. In the interest of making figures more lifelike than
the living, using a generous grant from the Wellcome Trust she developed
the incorporation of electronic animatronics systems into the
sculptures so that her moribund and macabre creations now can twitch and
mutter. She is artist in residence at the Gordon Museum of Pathology, a
member of the Medical Artists' Association, runs a course in Anatomy
drawing at the Royal College of Art and lectures on the M. A. Art and
Science course at Central St Martins School of Art in London.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
 |
Image: Wax Head by
Clemente Susini;
Copyright: University of
Cagliari, Italy |
Art, Wax, Death and Anatomy : Illustrated lecture with art historian Roberta Ballestriero 3rd June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Wax
modelling, or ceroplastics, is of ancient origin but was revived in
14th century Italy with the cult of Catholic votive objects, or ex
votos. With the rise of Neoclassicism this art became repulsive to
artistic sensibilities; it did, however, continue to survive in a
scientific environment, where it flourished in the study of normal and
pathological anatomy, obstetrics, zoology and botany. Interest in
anatomical wax models spread throughout Europe during the eighteenth
century leading to the creation of beautiful collections where art and
death harmonically cohabit. In today's illustrated lecture, Art
Historian Roberta Ballestriero will discuss the art and history of wax
modeling sacred and profane; she will also showcase many of its greatest
masterworks, such as the anatomical head by Clemente Susini (1754-1814)
seen above.
Roberta Ballestriero
is an associate lecturer in History of Art for the Open University, in
U.K. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, and had her a
European PhD for the Complutense University of Madrid. Her research
concerns the history of Ceroplastic and wax figures throughout the
centuries, (with emphasis on the ‘body of wax’). She started her
research on the art of ceroplastics in 1995 and since 2004 she has
presented at numerous conferences and has published several articles on
her thesis subjects.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Music
Driving Women Mad: The History of Medical Fears of its Effects on
Female Bodies and Minds: Illustrated lecture with Dr. James Kennaway
4th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
For
many doctors since the eighteenth century, women's supposedly weak
nerves made them especially vulnerable to over-stimulation, which could
lead to a variety of complaints from the vapours to neurasthenia. One
surprisingly common focus of these concerns was music. Over the past few
centuries, countless physicians and writers have asserted that music
could cause very serious medical problems for the 'weaker sex'. Not only
could it bring on symptoms of nervousness and hysteria, it could also
cause infertility, nymphomania and even something called
'melosexualism'. This talk will give an outline of this strange debate,
using the raciest stories to be found in gynaecological textbooks.
Dr James Kennaway
is a lecturer in the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford.
He has previously held posts at Stanford University, the University of
Vienna and the University of Durham. His book "Bad Vibrations: The
History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease" was published last
summer.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Solitary vice? Sex and Sissection in Georgian London Illustrated Lecture with Dr Simon Chaplin
5th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
In
his watercolour of a 'Persevering Surgeon' (see left), the British
artist Thomas Rowlandson made no bones about the darkly erotic nature of
anatomical dissection. Poised over the body of a naked woman, erect
knife in hand, Rowlandson's anatomist conjured images of the other
solitary vice that consumed later 18th century moralists and medical
men. But like Rowlandson - who combined popular satirical illustration
with a more discreet trade in pornographic imagery - anatomists
maintained a delicate balance between personal pursuits and public
propriety. In this lavishly illustrated lecture, Simon Chaplin explores
the sexual undertones of the anatomy schools of Georgian London, in
which students dissected grave-robbed bodies in the back-rooms of their
teachers' houses, while their masters explored new strategies for
presenting their work to polite audiences through museums and lectures.
Dr Simon Chaplin
is Head of the Wellcome Library in London. Before joining the Wellcome
he was Director of the Hunterian Museum in London, one of the world's
oldest anatomy collections. His research interests include the history
of anatomy, surgery and museums, and his doctoral thesis explored the
relationship between dissection and display through the work of the
Hunterian Museum's founder, the surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793).
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Heartthrobs
of the Human Zoo: Ethnographic Exhibitions and Captive Celebrities of
Turn of the Century America: An Illustrated Lecture with Betsy Bradley
6th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
The
ethnographic exhibitions that became popular in late Victorian Europe
gave white visitors the chance to gaze upon entire villages of
naturmenschen, temporarily imported from distant (usually colonial)
lands and going about their daily lives in recreated habitats, much like
their animal counterparts at the zoo. The Busby Berkeley scale of these
colonial show-and-tells was designed to make a statement: instead of
one displayed person, here were tribes of them, "villages negres," to
quote the French. But the pointed anonymity of these living diorama
could not prevent the media and the public from making stars out of
their favorite "savages," particularly in the United States. From
ransomed Congolese pygmies to winsome Eskimo babies, the American
world's fairs and patriotic expositions present history with a number
of troubling ethnographic celebrities, and their stories offer a rare
glimpse inside the psychology and culture of imperial America at the
turn of a new century.
Betsy Bradley
is a Brooklyn-based writer whose interests include the hidden histories
of New York City and the intersection of literature, science, and
American popular culture. She is the author of
Knickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York, and a contributor to the
Cambridge Companion to the Literature of New York, among other anthologies. She has written for
Edible Manhattan, Edible Brooklyn, Bookforum, and
The New York Times.
Bradley is the author of a forthcoming guidebook about New York to be
published by Reaktion Books (UK) and is at work on a history of eugenics
and its impact on American society, from sideshows to compulsory
sterilization.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
The
Astounding Collection of Henry Wellcome: Blythe House Backstage Tour
with Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine, The Science Museum
This event is limited to only 15 participants and will begin at 15:00 at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington
Ticket price £20
7th June 2013
Henry
Wellcome (1853 – 1936)----early pharmaceutical magnate and man behind
the Wellcome Trust, Collection, and Library--was the William Randolph
Hearst of the medical collecting world. Upon his death, he had collected
over one million objects--many still in unopened crates in far-flung
warehouses--related in the broadest sense to the history of medicine.
His curators reduced that number by around to around 100,000 keeping
only the very best. That collection, possibly the finest medical
collection in the world, now resides in Blythe House, kept in trust by
The Science Museum on permanent loan from the Wellcome Trust.
Today,
a lucky fifteen people will get a rare chance to see this collection,
featuring many artifacts of which have never before been on public view,
in this backstage tour led Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine
at The Science Museum.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Neapolitan Cult of the Dead with Chiara Ambrosio
10th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
.. Naples, the most macabre of cities. Naples, the mouth of Hades. The dead are played with there like big dolls...
--
The Necrophiliac, Gabrielle Wittkop
Naples
is a unique city in which the sacred and the profane, Catholicism and
paganism, beauty and decay blend and contrast in intriguing ways. No
practice illustrates this tangle of ideas better than what is known as
"The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" in which devout Catholics--generally
poor women--adopt anonymous skulls found in charnel houses and clean,
care for, and sometimes house them, offering up prayers and offerings to
shorten that soul's time in purgatory before reaching paradise, where,
it is hoped, it will assist its earthbound caretaker with special
favors. The macabre artifacts of this cult can be seen in the Cimitero
delle Fontanelle (see above) and the crypt of the church of Saint Mary
of Purgatory.
In tonight's illustrated lecture, Italian
artist and filmmaker Chiara Ambrosio will elucidate this curious and
fascinating "Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" and situate it within a the
rich death culture and storied history of Naples.
Chiara Ambrosio
is a visual artist working with video and animation. Her work has
included collaborations with performance artists, composers, musicians
and writers, and has been shown in a number of venues including national
and international film festivals, galleries and site specific events.
She also runs The Light and Shadow Salon is a place for artists, writers
and audience to meet and share ideas about the past, present and future
of the moving image in all its forms.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
I am Amazed and Know Not What to Say! - A Vile Vaudeville of Gothic Attractions: Illustrated lecture by Mervyn Heard, author of Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern
11th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
An
illustrated talk in which writer and showman ‘Professor’ Mervyn Heard
waxes scattergun- sentimental over some of the more bizarre, live
theatrical experiences of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century – from
the various ghastly manifestations of the phantasmagoria to performing
hangmen, self-crucifiers and starving brides.
Mervyn Heard is the author of
Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern
(2006), was responsible for designing the phantasmagoria intallation
for the Tate Britain’s Gothic Nightmare (2006), and has staged bespoke
magic lantern performances worldwide in playhouses, cinemas, department
stores, museums, tents and dissecting theatres.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Professor Heard's Most Extraordinary Magic Lantern Show with Mervyn Heard
12th June 2013
First performance begins at 7pm
Second performance begins at 9pm
Ticket price £10
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Professor
Heard is well known to patrons of the Last Tuesday Lecture programme
for his sell-out magic lantern entertainments. In this latest assault on
the eye he summons up some of the weirdest, most inappropriate and
completely baffling examples of lantern imagery, lantern stories and
optical effects by special request of Morbid Anatomy. These he will
present on a magnificent mahogany and brass magic lantern projector
perfectly suited for the purpose.
Mervyn Heard is the author of
Phantasmagoria-The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern (2006),
was responsible for designing the phantasmagoria installation for the
Tate Britain’s Gothic Nightmare (2006), and has staged bespoke magic
lantern performances worldwide in playhouses, cinemas, department
stores, museums, tents and dissecting theatres.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
"Speaking Reliquaries" and Christian Death Rituals: Part One of "Hairy Secrets" Series With Karen Bachmann
13th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
In
this 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning
jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen Bachmann will focus on
what are termed "speaking" reliquaries: the often elaborate containers
which house the preserved body parts--or relics--of saints and martyrs
with shapes which reflect that of the body-part contained within.
Bachmann will examine these fascinating objects from an art historical
perspective, and discuss their relationship to concepts of human body
parts as icons of the immortal. They will be put into the larger context
of Christian death rituals, in particular the veneration of saints body
parts as sacred and magical relics. Also discussed will be the
extremely odd proclivities of a variety of renaissance saints, such as
Catherine of Sienna who drank pus from open sores. This will serve as
the genesis in our further discussions of human hair, teeth, and nails
as icons of the immortal.
The Hairy Secrets series will explore in lectures and workshops the history of
the preservation of human remains for reasons sacred and profane,
culminating in the flowering of Victorian hair art mourning jewelry, or
jewelry which incorporates the hair of the beloved dead.
- Lecture One: “Speaking Reliquaries” and Christian Death Rituals (13th June)
- Lecture Two: The History of the Memento Mori and Death’s Head Iconography (14th June)
- Lecture Three: The Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of
Mourning Hair Jewelry and Morbid Anatomy Going Away Party (17th June)
- Workshop: Victorian Hair Jewelry Workshop with Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann (14th, 15th, and 16th June from 1 - 5pm)
Karen Bachmann is a
fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on
staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the
Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the
School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently
completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled
“Hairy Secrets; Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Mourning
Jewelry”. In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological specimens,
amateur taxidermy and punk rock.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Hair Art Workshop Class: The Victorian Art of Hair Jewellery With Karen Bachmann
14th, 15th, and 16th June 2013 from 1 - 5pm
Ticket price £50
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Hair
jewellery was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that
began in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the
Victorian Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased
in metal lockers or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one.
This class will explore a modern take on the genre. The technique of
"palette working" or arranging hair in artful swoops and curls will be
explored and a variety of ribbons, beads, wire and imagery of mourning
iconography will be supplied for potential inclusion. A living or
deceased person or pet may be commemorated in this manner. Students are
requested to bring with them to class their own hair, fur, or feathers;
all other necessary materials will be supplied. Hair can be self-cut,
sourced from barber shops or hair salons (who are usually happy to
provide you with swept up hair), from beauty supply shops (hair is sold
as extensions), or from wig suppliers. Students will leave class with
their own piece of hair jewelry and the knowledge to create future
projects.
The Hairy Secrets series will explore in lectures and workshops the history of
the preservation of human remains for reasons sacred and profane,
culminating in the flowering of Victorian hair art mourning jewelry, or
jewelry which incorporates the hair of the beloved dead.
- Lecture One: “Speaking Reliquaries” and Christian Death Rituals (13th June)
- Lecture Two: The History of the Memento Mori and Death’s Head Iconography (14th June)
- Lecture
Three: The Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning
Hair Jewelry and Morbid Anatomy Going Away Party (17th June)
- Workshop: Victorian Hair Jewelry Workshop with Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann (14th, 15th, and 16th June from 1 - 5pm)
Karen Bachmann is a
fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on
staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the
Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the
School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently
completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled
“Hairy Secrets; Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Mourning
Jewelry”. In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological specimens,
amateur taxidermy and punk rock.
More
here. Tickets
here (14th June),
here (15th June), and
here (16th June).
________________________________
The
History of the Memento Mori and Death's Head Iconography: Part Two of
"Hairy Secrets" Series: Illustrated lecture with Art Historian and
Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
14th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
In
tonight's lecture--the second in a 3-part series on human relics and
Victorian mourning jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen
Bachmann will explore the development of the memento mori,objects whose
very raison d'être is to remind the beholder that they, too, will die.
Bachman will trace the symbolism and iconography of the memento mori and
death's head imagery in both Medieval and Renaissance art, focusing on
jewelry. She will also discuss the development of the "portable relic"
-- a wearable form of body part reliquary, will be the focus of this
lecture. The importance of hair in contemporaneous art of the period
will be addressed, as well as the development of bereavement jewelry
with hair.
The Hairy Secrets series will explore in lectures and workshops the history of
the preservation of human remains for reasons sacred and profane,
culminating in the flowering of Victorian hair art mourning jewelry, or
jewelry which incorporates the hair of the beloved dead.
- Lecture One: “Speaking Reliquaries” and Christian Death Rituals (13th June)
- Lecture Two: The History of the Memento Mori and Death’s Head Iconography (14th June)
- Lecture
Three: The Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning
Hair Jewelry and Morbid Anatomy Going Away Party (17th June)
- Workshop: Victorian Hair Jewelry Workshop with Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann (14th, 15th, and 16th June from 1 - 5pm)
Karen Bachmann is a
fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on
staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the
Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the
School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently
completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled
“Hairy Secrets; Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Mourning
Jewelry”. In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological specimens,
amateur taxidermy and punk rock.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
The
Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning Hair Jewelry
and Part Three of “Hairy Secrets” Series: Illustrated lecture with Art
Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
17th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
The
Victorians had a love affair with death which they expressed in a
variety of ways, both intensely sentimental and macabre. Tonight’s
lecture–the last in a 3-part series on human relics and Victorian
mourning jewelry–will take as its focus the apex of the phenomenon of
hair jewelry fashion in the Victorian Era as an expression of this
passion. Nineteenth century mourning rituals will be discussed, with a
particular focus on Victorian hairwork jewelry, both palette worked and
table worked. Also discussed will be the historical roots of the
Victorian fascination with death, such as high mortality rates for both
adults and children, the rise of the park cemetery, and the death of
Queen Victoria’s beloved Prince Albert and her subsequent
fashion-influencing 40-year mourning period. Historical samples of hair
art and jewelry from the lecturer’s personal collection will also be
shown.
The Hairy Secrets series will explore in lectures and workshops the history of
the preservation of human remains for reasons sacred and profane,
culminating in the flowering of Victorian hair art mourning jewelry, or
jewelry which incorporates the hair of the beloved dead.
- Lecture One: “Speaking Reliquaries” and Christian Death Rituals (13th June)
- Lecture Two: The History of the Memento Mori and Death’s Head Iconography (14th June)
- Lecture
Three: The Victorian Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning
Hair Jewelry and Morbid Anatomy Going Away Party (17th June)
- Workshop: Victorian Hair Jewelry Workshop with Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann (14th, 15th, and 16th June from 1 - 5pm)
Karen Bachmann is a
fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on
staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the
Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the
School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently
completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled
“Hairy Secrets; Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Mourning
Jewelry”. In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological specimens,
amateur taxidermy and punk rock.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Dissection and Magic with Constanza Isaza Martinez
18th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
This
lecture examines images of human corpses in Early Modern European art
in relation to two specific themes: the practice of ‘witchcraft’ or
‘magic’; and the emergent medical profession, particularly anatomical
dissection. As the images demonstrate, the two practices were closely
linked during this period, and the corpses were a source - albeit
fraught with anxieties - of power and knowledge for the figures of the
witch and the anatomist.
Constanza Isaza Martinez
is an artist, photographer, and independent researcher. She gained her
BA in Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster, and her MA
in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute. Both her art and her
research have frequently explored themes of mortality, mutability,
death, and decay. For more information, please visit
www.constanzaisaza.com.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
‘She
Healed Their Bodies With Her White Hot Passions’: The Role of the Nurse
in Romantic Fiction with Natasha McEnroe: Illustrated lecture Natasha
McEnroe, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum
19th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
“She
stood by, handing him the required instruments while he stitched up an
ice-pick stabbing that had by some miracle barely missed a woman’s
heart. She heard the woman’s thick voice as she went under the
anaesthetic: ‘My man didn’t really mean to hurt me, Doc. He was just mad
account of I didn’t have him a meat supper when he got home from
work.’” [Society Nurse, 1962].
Under such
dramatic circumstances, it is no wonder that passion flares between the
beautiful young nurse and her handsome doctor colleague. The figure of
the nurse in romance fiction is a powerful one, her starched white apron
covering a breast heaving with suppressed emotion. Victorian portrayals
of the nurse show either a drunken and dishonest old woman or an
angelic and devoted being, which changes to a 20th-century caricature
just as pervasive – that of the ‘sexy nurse’. In this talk, Natasha
McEnroe will explore the links between the enforced intimacy of the
sickroom and the handling of bodies for more recreational reasons.
Natasha McEnroe
is the Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum. Her previous post
was Museum Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative
Anatomy and Curator of the Galton Collection at University College
London. From 1997 – 2007, she was Curator of Dr Johnson’s House in
London’s Fleet Street, and has also worked for the National Trust and
the Victoria and Albert Museum. Natasha has lectured widely at venues
including the Royal Society, the British Museum and the Hunterian
Museum.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Future
Death. Future Dead Bodies. Future Cemeteries: Illustrated lecture by
Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at
the University of Bath
20th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Approximately
1500 people die every day across the United Kingdom, roughly one person
a minute. And unless you are a person who works in a profession
connected to the dying, chances are good you rarely (if ever) see any of
these 1500 dead bodies. More importantly-- do you and your next of kin
know what you want done with your dead body when you die? In the future,
of course, since it's easier to think that way. Dr. John Troyer, from
the Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath, will discuss
three kinds of postmortem futures: Future Death, Future Dead Bodies,
and Future Cemeteries. Central to these Futures is the human corpse and
its use in new forms of body disposal technology, digital technology
platforms, and definitions of death.
Dr. John Troyer
is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the
University of Bath. His interdisciplinary research focuses on
contemporary memorialisation practices, concepts of spatial
historiography, and the dead body?s relationship with technology. Dr.
Troyer is also a theatre director and installation artist with extensive
experience in site-specific performance across the United States and
Europe. He is a co-founder of the
Death Reference Desk website and a frequent commentator for the BBC. His forthcoming book,
Technologies of the Human Corpse (published by the University of North Carolina Press), will appear in 2013.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Face
lift or face reconstruction? Redesigning the Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam's
anatomical museum: An illustrated lecture with Dr. Laurens de Rooy,
curator of the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam
24th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Copies of the book
Forces of Form: The Vrolik Museum will be available for sale and signing.
Two
skeletons of dwarfs, rare Siamese twins, cyclops and sirens, dozens of
pathologically deformed bones, the giant skull of a grown man with
hydrocephalus, the skeleton of the lion once owned by king Louis
Napoleon, as well as the organs of a babirusa, Tasmanian devil and tree
kangaroo – rare animals that died in the Amsterdam zoo ‘Artis’ shortly
before their dissection. Counting more than five thousand preparations
and specimens, the Museum Vrolikianum, the private collection of father
Gerard (1775-1859) and his son Willem Vrolik (1801-1863), was an amazing
object of interest one hundred and fifty years ago. In the 1840s and
50s this museum, established in Gerard’s stately mansion on the river
Amstel, grew into a famous collection that attracted admiring scientists
from both the Netherlands and abroad. After the Vrolik era, the museum
was expanded with new collections by succeeding anatomists and the
museum now houses more than 10,000 anatomical specimens.
Since
1984, the museum has been located in the academic Hospital of the
University of Amsterdam. In 2009 the museum collections were portrayed
by the photographer Hans van den Bogaard for the book Forces of Form.
This book was the starting point for the creation of a new 'aesthetic'
of the museum and its collection, eventually resulting in the grand
reopening of the renovated and redesigned permanent exhibition in
September 2012. For the first time since the death of father and son
Vrolik, all of their scientific interests - the animal anatomy, the
congenital malformations and the pathologically deformed human skeletons
can all be viewed together, thus giving an impression of what that
mid-19th century anatomy was all about. In this talk, Museum Vrolik
curator will take you on a guided tour of the new museum, and give an
overview of all the other aspects of the 'new' Museum Vrolik.
Dr. Laurens de Rooy
(b. 1974) works as a curator of the Museum Vrolik in the Academic
Medical Centre in Amsterdam. He studied Medical Biology, specializing in
the history of science and museology. during his internship he
researched the collection of father and son Vrolik. In 2009 he obtained
his PhD in medical history.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
The Walking Dead in 1803: An Illustrated Lecture with Phil Loring,
Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum in London
25th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
A
visiting Italian startled Londoners at the turn of the 19th century by
making decapitated animals and executed men open their eyes and move
around, as if on the verge of being restored to life. This was not magic
but the power of electricity from the newly invented Galvanic trough,
or battery. It was also the dawn of the modern neurosciences, as the
thrust behind these macabre experiments was to understand the energy
that moved through the nerves and linked our wills to our bodies. This
talk will discuss a variety of historical instruments from the Science
Museum's collections that figured in these re-animation experiments,
including the apparatus used by Galvani himself in his laboratory in
Bologna. This will be a partial preview of an upcoming Science Museum
exhibition on nerve activity, to open in December 2013.
Phil Loring
is BPS Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum in London. He has a
Master's degree in Medical Anthropology from Harvard University and is
currently completing his Ph.D. in the History of Science, also from
Harvard, with a dissertation on psycho-linguists in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, after the Second World War. Phil has been at the Science
Museum since 2009, and during that time he has been particularly
committed to sharing artefacts related to psychology and psychiatry with
adult audiences. He's currently preparing an exhibition on the history
of nerves, to open in December 2013.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
The Influencing Machine: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom with Mike Jay
26th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
Confined
in Bedlam in 1797 as an incurable lunatic, James Tilly Matthews’ case
is one of the most bizarre in the annals of psychiatry. He was the first
person to insist that his mind was being controlled by a machine: the
Air Loom, a terrifying secret weapon whose mesmeric rays and mysterious
gases were brainwashing politicians and plunging Europe into revolution,
terror and war. But Matthews’ case was even stranger than his doctors
realised: many of the incredible conspiracies in which he claimed to be
involved were entirely real. Caught up in high-level diplomatic
intrigues in the chaos of the French revolution, he found himself
betrayed by both sides, and in possession of a secret that no-one would
believe…
Mike Jay is
an author, historian and curator who has written widely on the history
of science and medicine, and particularly on drugs and madness. As well
as
The Influencing Machine, he is the author of
Emperors of Dreams: Drugs in the Nineteenth Century and
High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture, which accompanied the exhibition he curated at Wellcome Collection.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
A
Waxen France: Madame Tussaud’s Representations of the French:
Illustrated Lecture by Pamela Pilbeam Emeritus Professor of French
History, Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks
27th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
`You
perceive that this is some sort of holy of holiest, the nearest
Victorians got to a Cathedral, with its saints enniched within’. The
chief saint in Madame Tussaud’s exhibition was Bonaparte, the chief
villains were Robespierre and his revolutionary colleagues. When she
arrived in Britain in 1802 for a short tour that lasted until she died
in 1850, her exhibition was an exploration of the evils of the French
Revolution. She had modelled the guillotined revolutionaries, as well as
Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, from their severed heads- and brought a
model of a guillotine and the Bastille fortress to expose the short
comings of the French. The British, busily at war with their nearest
neighbour, loved this critical exposure. Later the focus of her
collection became her `Shrine to Napoleon’ consisted of two rooms
dedicated to the Emperor. Napoleon had always had a leading role in her
touring company, but in 1834, when she was a well-established figure in
the world of entertainment and about to open a permanent museum in Baker
Street, Madame. Tussaud began to amass large quantities of Napoleonic
memorabilia. She built up a collection which Napoleon III acknowledged,
when he tried abortively to buy it from the Tussauds, to be the best in
the world. Madame Tussaud’s presentation of French politics and history
did much to inform and influence the popular perception of France among
the British. This paper will explore that view and how it changed during
the nineteenth century.
Pamela Pilbeam is Emeritus Professor of French History, Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of
Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Bat
in Glass Dome Workshop: Part of DIY Wunderkammer Series : With Wilder
Duncan (formerly of Evolution Store, Soho) and Laetitia Barbier, head
librarian at The Morbid Anatomy Library
29th June and 30th June 2013, 1 to 5pm
Ticket price £150
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
In
this class, students will learn how to create an osteological
preparation of a bat in the fashion of 19th century zoological displays.
A bat skeleton, a glass dome, branches, glue, tools, and all necessary
materials will be provided for each student, but one should feel welcome
to bring small feathers, stones, dried flowers, dead insects, natural
elements, or any other materials s/he might wish to include in his/her
composition. Students will leave the class with a visually striking,
fully articulated, “lifelike” bat skeleton posed in a 10” tall glass
dome. This piece can, in conjunction with the other creations in the DIY
Wunderkammer workshop series, act as the beginning of a genuine
collection of curiosities! This class is part of the DIY Wunderkammer
workshop series, curated by Laetitia Barbier and Wilder Duncan for
Morbid Anatomy as a creative and pluridisciplinary exploration of the
Curiosity Cabinet. The classes will focus on teaching ancient methods of
specimen preparation that link science with art: students will create
compositions involving natural elements and, according to their taste,
will compose a traditional Victorian environment or a modern display.
More on the series can be found here.
Wilder Duncan
is an artist whose work puts a modern-day spin on the genre of Vanitas
still life. Although formally trained as a realist painter at Wesleyan
University, he has had a lifelong passion for, and interest in, natural
history. Self-taught rogue taxidermist and professional specimen
preparator, Wilder worked for several years at The Evolution Store
creating, repairing, and restoring objects of natural historical
interest such as taxidermy, fossils, seashells, minerals, insects,
tribal sculptures, and articulated skeletons both animal and human.
Wilder continues to do work for private collectors, giving a new life to
old mounts, and new smiles to toothless skulls.
Laetitia Barbier
is the head librarian at The Morbid Anatomy Library. She is working on a
master’s thesis for the Paris Sorbonne on painter Joe Coleman. She
writes for Atlas Obscura and Morbid Anatomy.
More
here (29th) and
here (30th). Tickets
here (29th) and
here (30th).
________________________________
The Coming of Age of the Danse Macabre on the Verge of the Industrial Age: Illustrated lecture with Alexander L. Bieri
9th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
During
the middle ages, the danse macabre developed into an independent art
form, most often in the shape of murals which adorned the walls of
cemeteries. These depictions of death followed a strict rulebook and
generally were a representation of the class system of the time, which
was based on nobility or – to be more precise – the estate-based
society. The advent of the bourgeois during the 1700s and the upcoming
industrialisation put a question mark not only behind the societal
system, but quite naturally also behind many of the established art
forms. The danse macabre was widely regarded to be an outdated concept
and a discussion evolved whether the skeleton still was the appropriate
epitome for death. One of the proponents of this discussion was the
Swiss artist Johann Rudolf Schellenberg, who created the first modern
danse macabre in 1785, far away from the old class system, a work of art
which still has an uncanny actuality and addresses many of the modern
fears still extant in society at present. His trailblazing work updated
the genre overnight and can be seen as the master source of all similar
works of art to follow. A complete set of the plates is held by the
Roche Historical Collection and Archive in Basel, which also holds one
of the world’s oldest anatomical collections. The lecture not only
discusses Schellenberg’s danse macabre in detail, but also gives an
insight into the current fascination with vanitas and its depictions,
especially focusing on the artistic exploitation of the theme and takes
into consideration the history of anatomical dissection and preparation.
Alexander
L. Bieri (*1976) is the curator of the Roche Historical Collection and
Archive, a department within Roche Group Holdings. He assumes this
position since 1999. Based in Basel, Switzerland but active as a
consultant throughout the world, he has published many books and
articles both on Roche-related and other themes. He also is responsible
for a variety of Roche in-house museums and curated special exhibitions
in Switzerland and abroad. In his capacity as an expert for 20th century
architecture and design, he is a member of ICOMOS. In 2012, he was
appointed lecturer for exhibition design at the Basel University.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death": Illustrated lecture and book signing with Andrew Chesnut
10th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
The
worship of Santa Muerte, a psuedo Catholic saint which takes the form
of a personified and clothed lady death, is on the rise and increasingly
controversial in Mexico and the United States. Literally translating to
“Holy Death” or “Saint Death,” the worship of Santa Muerte–like Day of
the Dead–is a popular form of religious expression rooted in a rich
syncretism of the beliefs of the native Latin Americans and the
colonizing Spanish Catholics. Worshippers of "The Bony Lady" include the
very poor, prostitutes, drug dealers, transvestites, prison inmates and
others for whom traditional religion has not served, and for whom the
possibility of unpredictable and violent death is a very real part of
everyday life. In the view of her worshippers, Santa Muerte is simply a
branch of Catholicism which takes at its central figure the most
powerful of all saints--Saint Death herself, the saint all must, after
all, one day answer to.The Catholic Church sees it, however, as, at
best, inadvertent devil worship, with the worship of death--and the
manifestation of a saint from a concept rather than an individual--as
heretical to its core tenants. Tonight, R. Andrew Chesnut, author of
Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint
and Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, will
detail his research into the history and ongoing development of this
fascinating "new religion."
Copies of
Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Sain will be available for sale and signing.
Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut
earned his Ph.D degree in Latin American History from the University of
California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department
faculty at the University of Houston in 1997 where he quickly became an
internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history.
His most recent book is
Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012). It is the first in-depth study of the Mexican folk saint in English.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
From
Blue Beads to Hair Sandwiches: Edward Lovett and London's Folk
Medicine: An Illustrated lecture with Ross MacFarlane, Research
Engagement Officer in the Wellcome Library
15th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
During
his life Edward Lovett (1852-1933) amassed one of the largest
collections of objects pertaining to 'folk medicine' in the British
Isles. Lovett particularly focused his attention on objects derived
from contemporary, working class Londoners, believing that the amulets,
charms and mascots he collected - and which were still being used in
20th century London - were 'survivals' of antiquated, rural practices.
Lovett, however, was a marginal figure in folklore circles, never
attaining the same degree of influence as many of his peers. Whilst he
hoped in his lifetime to establish a 'National Museum of Folklore',
Lovett's sizeable collection is now widely dispersed across many museums
in the UK, including Wellcome Collection, the Science Museum, the Pitt
Rivers Museum and the Cuming Museum. This paper will offer an overview
of the range of healing objects Lovett collected, the collecting
practices he performed and recent efforts to rehabilitate his
reputation.
Ross MacFarlane is Research Engagement
Officer in the Wellcome Library, where he is heavily involved in
promoting the Library's collections, particularly to academic
audiences. He has researched and given public talks on such topics as
the history of early recorded sound and the collecting activities of
Henry Wellcome and his members of staff. Ross is a frequent contributor
to the
Wellcome Library's blog
and has had led guided walks around London on the occult past of
Bloomsbury and the intersection of medicine, science and trade in
Greenwich and Deptford.
More
here. Tickets
here.
________________________________
Of
Satyrs, Horses and Camels: Natural History in the Imaginative Mode:
illustrated lecture by Daniel Margócsy, Hunter College, New York
25th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7
Location: The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map
here)
This
talk argues that the creative imagination played a crucial role in the
development of science during the scientific revolution. Modern, natural
knowledge emerged from the interaction of painters, printmakers,
artisans, cartographers, and natural historians. All these practitioners
carefully observed, pictured and cataloged all the exotic naturalia
that flooded Europe during the Columbian exchange. Yet their
collaboration did not end there. They also engaged in a joint,
conjectural guesswork as to what other, as yet unknown plants and
animals might hide in the forests of New England, the archipelago of the
Caribbean, the unfathomable depths of the Northern Sea, or even in the
cavernous mountains of the Moon. From its beginnings, science was (and
still is) an imaginative and speculative enterprise, just like the arts.
This talk traces the exchange of visual information between the major
artists of the Renaissance and the leading natural historians of the
scientific revolution. It shows how painters’ and printmakers’
fictitious images of unicorns, camels and monkfish came to populate the
botanical and zoological encyclopedias of early modern Europe. The
leading naturalists of the age, including Conrad Gesner, Carolus Clusius
and John Jonstonus, constantly consulted the oeuvre of Dürer, Rubens
and Hendrick Goltzius, among others, as an inspiration to hypothesize
how unknown, and unseen, plants and animals might look like.
Daniel Margocsy
is assistant professor of history at Hunter College – CUNY. In 2012/3,
he is the Birkelund Fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman
Center for Scholars and Writers. He has co-edited States of Secrecy, a
special issue of the British Journal for the History of Science on
scientific secrecy, and published articles in the
Journal of the History of Ideas, Annals of Science, and the
Netherlands Yearbook of Art History.
More
here. Tickets
here.
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You can find out more about all events
here.
Image: From
the Victorian Mourning Facebook Group: A Victorian woman in full first year mourning. Courtesy of Jack Mord at The Thanatos Archive.
