Tonight!!! "Experimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory," Lecture, Observatory

Tonight! Michael Johns on all things Terror Management Theory! 8:00! Observatory!

Full details follow. Hope to see you there!

Experimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory
An Illustrated Lecture by Michael Johns, Former Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming
Date: Thursday, May 6
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Denial of Death, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker attempted to develop a unified theory of human behavior. He argued that it was the human capacity to grasp and contemplate our own mortality–and our need to suppress this knowledge–that was at the root of human culture and behavior, from genocide to altruism, religion to philosophy. Terror Management Theory (TMT) is a psychological theory directly based on Becker’s work, developed by a group of social psychologists interested in testing Becker’s assertions about death as a core motivator of human behavior. Over the last 25 years, psychologists in the North America, Europe and the Middle East have conducted hundreds of studies to test hypothesis derived from Becker’s work and the Terror Management Theory it inspired. This body of research compellingly supports Becker’s thesis and reveals the ways in which mortality salience influences behaviors ranging from aggression and stereotyping to creativity and sexuality. Using segments from the documentary “Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality,” this lecture will introduce Terror Management Theory and discuss the often clever experiments that have been conducted to test its tenets.

Michael Johns is a social psychologist and works as a research scientist in the NYC Department of Health. He has published numerous research articles and book chapters on a variety of topics, including Terror Management Theory. Before moving to Brooklyn, Mike was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming.

You can find out more about this presentation here. For more on Ernest Becker's wonderful book Denial of Death, click here; for more on the film "Flight From Death - The Quest for Immortality," click here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.

"Experimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory," Lecture, Observatory, Thursday May 6

This Thursday, May 6, join Morbid Anatomy and Michael Johns at Observatory for a night of all things Terror Management Theory! Full details follow; This will be a very good night and I hope very much to see you there!

Experimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory
An Illustrated Lecture by Michael Johns, Former Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming
Date: Thursday, May 6
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Denial of Death, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker attempted to develop a unified theory of human behavior. He argued that it was the human capacity to grasp and contemplate our own mortality–and our need to suppress this knowledge–that was at the root of human culture and behavior, from genocide to altruism, religion to philosophy. Terror Management Theory (TMT) is a psychological theory directly based on Becker’s work, developed by a group of social psychologists interested in testing Becker’s assertions about death as a core motivator of human behavior. Over the last 25 years, psychologists in the North America, Europe and the Middle East have conducted hundreds of studies to test hypothesis derived from Becker’s work and the Terror Management Theory it inspired. This body of research compellingly supports Becker’s thesis and reveals the ways in which mortality salience influences behaviors ranging from aggression and stereotyping to creativity and sexuality. Using segments from the documentary “Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality,” this lecture will introduce Terror Management Theory and discuss the often clever experiments that have been conducted to test its tenets.

Michael Johns is a social psychologist and works as a research scientist in the NYC Department of Health. He has published numerous research articles and book chapters on a variety of topics, including Terror Management Theory. Before moving to Brooklyn, Mike was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming.

You can find out more about this presentation here. For more on Ernest Becker's wonderful book Denial of Death, click here; for more on the film "Flight From Death - The Quest for Immortality," click here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.

Zoe Beloff in London

Zoe Beloff--personal friend, friend of Morbid Anatomy and Observatory, and one of my favorite contemporary artists--has a few wonderful sounding art-pieces showing in London over the next few months. If you are based in or near London, I highly recommend you take this opportunity to check out her work in person; Her work is lovely, multi-layered, fascinating, and seriously not to be missed.

Here is a bit about her work, from her artist's statement:

Zoe Beloff is an artist who is particularly fascinated by attempts to graphically manifest the unconscious processes of the mind. She is particularly adept at dreaming her way into the past. Zoe’s work has been exhibited internationally. Venues include: The Whitney Museum, MoMA, The Freud Dream Museum (St Petersburg), Pacific Film Archives and the Pompidou Center.

And here are the full details of her upcoming London events:

The Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society and their Circle 1926-1972
An illustrated lecture and screening by Zoe Beloff
November 18th, 2009 - 7pm - 8:30
The Freud Museum 20 Maresfield Gardens London NW3 5SX
Freud Museum: http://www.freud.org.uk
More here.

To celebrate the centennial of Freud’s visit to the great amusement parks of Coney Island, prior to his visit to Clark University in 1909, artist Zoe Beloff resurrected the forgotten world of the Coney Island Amateur Psychoanalytic Society, along with the visionary ideas of its founder Albert Grass, for an exhibition at the Coney Island Museum in New York.

Here she will present an overview of the work of the Society, which might best be described as an urban legend. The members, working people from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, were filled with the desire to participate in one of the great intellectual movements of the 20th century. Beloff will discuss the Sunday lectures, plans to rebuild the “Dreamland Amusement Park” according to Freud’s ideas of dream formation, the controversy over the lost "Sigmund Freud" figure at the World in Wax Musée and will screen a number of the “Dream Films” in which members of the society recreated their dreams on film in an unapologetic and playful exploration of their inner lives.

The Magic Show
28th through 31 January
Opening 27 January 7pm to 9pm
The Quad
http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/
Market Place,Cathedral Quarter
DerbyDE1 3AS

Premiere of new Hayward Touring exhibition curated by Jonathan Allen and Sally O’Reilly, organised in collaboration with QUAD, Derby. Magic, like art, thrives in the gaps between truth, half truths and lies. ‘Magic Show’ considers how contemporary artists adopt the perception-shifting ploys of theatrical magic, to summon wonderment while also exploring questions of creative agency and the power of suggestion.

Magic Show artists: Jonathan Allen, Archive (Anne Walsh & Chris Kubick), Zoe Beloff, Ansuman Biswas & Jem Finer, Joan Brossa, Rick Buckley, Brian Catling, Center for Tactical Magic, Jackie & Denise Chapwoman, Tom Friedman, Brian Griffiths, Colin Guillemet, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Susan Hiller, Alexandra Hopf, Janice Kerbel, Christian Jankowski, Annika Lundgren, Juan Muñoz, Bruce Nauman, Ian Saville, Ariel Schlesinger, Suzanne Treister and Sinta Werner.

You can find out more about these upcoming events, and about Zoe's work in general, by clicking here.

Indiana Medical History Museum

I just returned from a week-long roadtrip to give my lecture in Indianapolis and then return, via Lexington Kentucky, to Brooklyn.

The lecture went well; people seemed genuinely interested in the topic and asked really great questions. I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow anatomical-art bloggers Vanessa Ruiz and Janet Chao. Another highlight--Gary Schnitz, who introduced my lecture, alerted the conference attendees to the existence of a local museum called the Indiana Medical History Museum which, based on his very enthusiastic description, we took a detour to visit.

The museum (pictured above) was rather amazing. Housed in the remaining building of what had been a large psychiatric hospital complex in the 19th century (then known as the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane), the museum represents (this per the brochure) "the beginning of scientific psychiatry and modern medicine while the building itself is the oldest free standing pathology facility in the nation and is on the National Register of Historic Places." The museum is housed in the 19 room Old Pathology Building, built in 1896, and contains 3 clinical laboratories, a 100 seat amphitheater, and a photography studio. Visiting the museum feels a bit like time travel, as it still contains original books, photography studio equipment, paintings, fixtures, pathological samples, signage, furniture, and more. The experience provided a kind of haunted, experience of 19th century psychiatry.

The museum website seems to no longer be operational (above information taken from their brochure) but you can check out the museum's Flickr photostream. I also took a ton of photos, from which the above are drawn; you can view the rest here.