Holy Gore! Ghostly Taxonomies! King of the Sideshow! Anatomical Drawing Workshops! Bodysnatching and Victorian Literature! This Week and Beyond at The Morbid Anatomy Museum

_____________________________________________

From “Holy Gore” to Santa Muerte: Death and Catholicism in Mexico
Illustrated lecture with Kurt Hollander, author/photographer of Several Ways to Die in Mexico City: An Autobiography of Death in Mexico City
Date: THIS WEEK Tuesday, July 22
Time: 8 pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

In tonight’s heavily illustrated lecture, Kurt Hollander–Mexico City-based author and photographer of Several Ways to Die in Mexico City–will discuss images of death in Mexico city, beginning with what he terms Mexico’s “holy gore”–the unusually macabre and violent religious statues–and ending with la Santa Muerte, Mexico’s newest cult saint worshiped by the criminal class and the disenfranchised and loathed by the Catholic church.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Dis Manibus: A Taxonomy of Ghosts from Popular Forms
Illustrated lecture by Professor Robert Williams, University of Cumbria
Date: Wednesday, July 23:
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (tickets here)

In tonight's talk, join artist and academic Robert Williams of the University of Cumbria for an illustrated talk about a taxonomy of ghosts and ghostly phenomena as explored in his recent publication Dis Manibus: A Taxonomy of Ghosts from Popular Forms.

_____________________________________________

Ward Hall: King of the Sideshow Lecture and Book Party with Afterparty at The Rockshop
Illustrated Lecture and Book Party with Legendary Sideshow Impresario Ward Hall and Author Tim O’Brien followed by Afterparty at The Rockshop
Date: THIS WEEK Thursday, July 24
Time: 6:30 pm
Admission: $5 (Tickets here)

At this event, sideshow legend Ward Hall will regale us with "stories about Percilla The Money Girl, Emmett the Alligator Skin Man, bearded ladies, giants, pinheads, conjoined twins and other marvels the 84-year-old has worked with in his 70 years working in carnivals, sideshows and circuses big and small." Books will be available for sale and signing, and following will be a free (!!!) afterparty at The Rock Shop featuring sideshow performances by the likes of Todd Robbins (of "Play Dead" fame); a two-hour happy hour; and free drinks sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, Bulleit Bourbon, Narragansett Beer and HobNob Wines.

_____________________________________________

Street Anatomy: A Night of Art, Anatomy and Pop Culture with Street Anatomy’s Vanessa Ruiz
An Illustrated Lecture with Vanessa Ruiz, creator of the blog Street Anatomy
Date: THIS WEEK Friday, July 25th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

Tonight, join Morbid Anatomy Museum Artist and Anatomist in Residence Emily Evans and Street Anatomy founder Vanessa Ruiz for an illustrated discussion which will range from the current state of anatomical art and its expanding community to the ways in which fostering relationships with artists helps connect and strengthen this niche subject.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Dissection and Drawing Workshop with Real Anatomical Specimens Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD
Date: THIS WEEK Saturday, July 26
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Admission: $60 (Tickets here)

In today’s workshop we will dissect and draw human hands (Homo sapiens) and the forelimb of Didelphis virginiana, the North American opossum. The opossum is considered to be a good model for a basl – i.e. early or original – mammal. Many comparative skeletal materials will be available for examination and illustration, and additional specimens may also be available.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Carbon Dust Drawing Workshop Featuring Real Anatomical Specimens with Marie Dauenheimer
Date: THIS WEEK Sunday, July 27
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Class size limited to 15
Admission: $75 (includes materials cost)
Tickets here

In today's workshop, learn the art of carbon dust illustration, a technique perfected by medical artist Max Brodel at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the late 19th century. This technique–which, until the digital age, was an essential component of medical illustration education–allows the artist to create luminous, textural, three-dimensional drawings by layering carbon dust on prepared paper.

More here.

_____________________________________________

The Arctic Theatre Royal, A Magic Lantern Show by The Wonder Show
Narrated Magic Lantern Show with original projectors, moving panoramas, and more
Date: Friday, August 1
Time: 8 pm
Admission: $15 (Tickets here) 

The Arctic Theatre Royal is a narrated magic lantern show incorporating original 1880s magic lantern projectors, a hand-cranked moving panorama, recorded music, and other media. The piece was inspired by materials found in the Providence Athenaeum’s Travel and Exploration collection.

More here.

_____________________________________________

The Victorian Art of Hair Jewelry
Workshop with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
Date: Saturday, August 2
Time: 1 – 5 PM
Admission: $100 (Tickets here)

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 lockers or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class will explore a modern take on the genre.

More here.

______________________________________________________ 

Anthropomorphic Mouse (One or Two Headed!) Taxidermy Class with Divya Anantharaman
Date: Sunday August 3
Time: 12pm – 5pm
Price: $110 one headed/$125 two headed (includes all materials for use in class, students go home with their own finished piece, and the knowledge to create their own pieces in the future)
Tickets here 

In this class, students will learn to create–from start to finish–anthropomorphic mice inspired by the charming and imaginative work of Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter.

More here.

______________________________________________________

Death, Dystopia and Technology Circa 1970: Night 1 of Tales from the Celluloid Coffin
A Death-themed Series of Screenings curated by Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
Date: Monday, August 4
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5 (tickets here)

In tonight’s offering: Science Fiction Films about dystopian futures often use the relationship between death and technology as a core plot point to scare the bejesus out of audiences. Especially films released during the early 1970′s and featuring well known actors who frequently starred in disaster movies.

______________________________________________________

Cabarets of Death: Illustrated Lecture and Rare Film Clips with Mel Gordon, Author of Voluptuous Panic and DJ in residence Friese Undine
Date: Friday August 8
Time: 8pm
Admission: $12 (Tickets here)During Paris’ Belle Époque, three exotic nightspots surfaced overnight in the red-light Montmartre district. Each was devoted to a ghastly and/or hedonistic vision of death and promised an otherworldly experience with unique menus and drinks, comic religious presentations, technological optical tricks, and nudist displays. These tourist attractions lasted into the 1950s and created an enduring folklore that still can be found on Websites and in the imaginations of retro-nightclub producers.

______________________________________________________

Afternoon Mourning: Screening with Tonya Hurley and Terrarium Workshop with Flower Artist Emily Thompson
Date: Sunday August 10
Time: 1pm
Admission: $200 (Tickets here) Today, join us for a afternoon of mourning curated by a author, filmmaker and Morbid Anatomy Museum board member Tonya Hurley including the screening of two award-winning short films by Hurley, mourning themed pastries and tea followed by a graveyard terrarium workshop led by Floral artist Emily Thompson Flowers.

______________________________________________________

Death, Color and Memory: Night 2 of Tales from the Celluloid Coffin
A Death-themed Series of Screenings curated by Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
Date: Monday, August 11
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5 (tickets here)

Memorialization of the dead and dying takes on many forms. Sometimes a single color comes to represent what dying can mean in the modern world, even though 'images of death' suffocate the living with visual excess. What if a person's entire death could be distilled into one, singular important hue.
______________________________________________________

Invasion of the Bodysnatcher: Medical Students, Gothic Novels, and the Contest for the Corpse in Antebellum America
An Illustrated Lecture by Tiffany DeRewal, Ph.D. candidate in American Literature at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Date: Tuesday, August 12th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

This talk explores the ways in which 19th century novels, such as the 1836 Sheppard Lee: Written by Himself, found inspiration in the rise of anatomical dissection and the graverobbing which accompanied made it possible.

More here.

______________________________________________________

Phantom Creep Cinema: Vintage Horror Films, Cartoons, Popcorn and Nonsense
Vintage Horror Films, Cartoons, Popcorn and Nonsense with Mighty Moloch, Isadora Spivey, Ek the Ghoul, and more
Date: Sunday, August 17th
Time: 3-7 pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)
An afternoon of vintage horror films, Cartoons, popcorn and nonsense including hours and hours of digest-length horror, sci-fi, comedy, and cartoons, all projected from super8, 8mm and 16mm prints! Plus, free popcorn!

More here.

______________________________________________________

Necrophilia: Night 3 of Tales from the Celluloid Coffin
A Death-themed Series of Screenings curated by Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
Date: Monday, August 18
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5 (tickets here)

Necrophilia is the one dead body topic 'normal' people can't discuss enough. It's so thrilling. Unbelievably intriguing. And of course, disgusting -- just in case anyone is concerned about being labelled abnormal. Films about necrophilia rarely imagine corpse abuse as a love story. Indeed, a love that dare not speak its name. Or be kissed.

_____________________________________________

Eva Peron and an Iconography of The Flesh: How Corpses Mean as Matter, Illustrated Lecture by Margaret Schwartz
Date: Tuesday, August 19th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (tickets here)

This talk will trace the shocking story of afterlife of the corpse of Eva Peron's corpse, ie "Evita." In the process, this fantastic tale will help elaborate the complex relationship between the visual image and embodiment in our contemporary practices of death, mourning, and in the end, meaning-making

_____________________________________________

The Burden of Proof: 20th Century ESP Research and the Search for the Soul
Date: Sunday, August 24th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8.00 (tickets here)

This lecture will explore the so-called "survival hypothesis"—the belief in the survival of consciousness beyond death—and its connection to J.B. Rhine's research on ESP and psychokinesis at the Duke Parapsychology Lab from 1930 to 1965.

_____________________________________________

Future Death Circa 1990: Night 4 of Tales from the Celluloid Coffin
A Death-themed Series of Screenings curated by Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath
Date: Monday, August 25:  
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5 (tickets here)

The future of human death seems increasingly bound to digital technology and the internet. Understanding these implications is both practical and futuristic, in ways that make many people uncomfortable. But how did our long ago relatives in the early 1990s imagine what death on the web might be like? And how do concepts of future internet technology potentially shape what 'being dead' will mean in the near future if and when an individual's social media accounts recreate that person after they die?
_____________________________________________

Spirits and Ghosts I Have Known and LovedIllustrated Presentation with Dr. Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University
Date: Tuesday, October 28
Time: 8pm
Admission: $12 (tickets here)
Presented by Shannon Taggart, Morbid Anatomy Museum Programmer in Residence

In this presentation, Dr. Stanley Krippner--professor of psychology at Saybrook University in San Francisco, California-- will discuss his long history of investigating the spooks that are reported to be especially active at Halloween.

_____________________________________________

From Purifying Flames: The Heated History of Cremation
Illustrated lecture with Licensed funeral director Amy Cunningham
Date: Tuesday, August 5
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (tickets here)

Tonight's tour of cremation's history with Licensed funeral director Amy Cunningham will take us from Julius Caesar's raging pyre on the Roman Forum, to Percy Bysshe Shelley's beachside burning (under Lord Byron's supervision), to Ghandi's funeral on the cover of "Life" magazine, to Jessica Mitford's "Communist" pro-cremation leanings.

_____________________________________________

Future Dead Body Technology
Illustrated lecture by John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence
Date: Wednesday, August 6
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

This illustrated talk with John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence will discuss the present and future technologies surrounding the human corpse.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Demonically Possessed Cats: Illustrated Lecture with Dr. Paul Koudounaris
Date: Thursday, August 7
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)
**Copies of Empire of Death and Heavenly Bodieswill be available for sale and signing 

Tonight's illustrated lecture by Dr. Paul Koudounaris--author of Empire of Deathand Heavenly Bodies--will trace the history of demonically-possessed cats. Felines were once considered by theologians to be easy prey for demons, who could enter their bodies and wreck incredible havoc on mankind. And did you know . . . demonically-possessed cats are still believed to be with us today!

More here.

_____________________________________________

Morbid Ink: The Permanence of Memorial TattoosIllustrated lecture by John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence
Date: Wednesday, August 13
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here) 

This illustrated talk with John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence will discuss the fascinating world of "memorial tattoos," or tattoos in memory of the deceased.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Abusing the Corpse: Understanding Necrophilia Laws in the USA
Illustrated lecture by John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence
Date: Wednesday, August 20
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here) 

This illustrated talk with John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence will discuss the surprising world of laws around necrophilia.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Fancy Chicken Taxidermy Class with Taxidermist in Residence Divya Ananthamaran
Date: Saturday August 23rd
Time: 12pm – 6pm
Price: $400 (includes all materials)
Tickets here 

In this workshop, students will be immersed in the world of the fancy chicken and classic bird taxidermy. They will leave class with a finished piece and knowledge to make their own pieces in the future.

More here.

______________________________________________________

The Future is Death and Death is the Future: Technology, Politics, and the Dead Body
Illustrated lecture by John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence
Date: Wednesday, August 27
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

This illustrated lecture with John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence will explore the present and the future technologies of the dead body.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Ancestor Cults in the Ancient World
Illustrated lecture with Ava Forte Vitali, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Date: Thursday, August 28
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

This illustrated lecture with Egyptologist in Residence Ava Forte Vitali will discuss the many different ways the dead interacted with the living in ancient Egypt and the way the living interacted with the dead, from household cults, to festivals, and even a fairly active postal system of letters to the afterworld.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
An Illustrated lecture and book signing with author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Date: Wednesday, September 10th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5 (Tickets here)
***Copies of “Dr. Mütter’s Marvels” will be available for sale and signing

Tonight, join author and poet Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz for the story of Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, the man behind Philadelphia’s iconic Mütter Museum, widely considered to be America’s finest medical museum.

_____________________________________________


Industrial Ladies
Illustrated Lecture by Evan Michelson, Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in Residence, TV's Oddities
Date: Thursday, September 11
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8 (Tickets here)

Illustrated lecture about uncanny and fascinating early 19th wax department store mannequins by Evan Michelson, Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in Residence, TV's Oddities.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Fur-Ever Friends: Animal Mummies
Illustrated lecture with Ava Forte Vitali, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Date: Thursday, September 25
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $8 (Tickets here) 

This illustrated lecture with Egyptologist in Residence Ava Forte Vitali will discuss the variety of reasons the Egyptians had for mummifying animals, the ways in which they did it, and sometimes – the ways in which they scammed their unsuspecting clients!

More here.

_____________________________________________

Halloween: The Curious Story of America’s Most Horrible Holiday
Illustrated Lecture by Lesley Bannatyne, author of Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History
Date: Sunday, October 26th
Time: 8:00 PM (Tickets here)
Admission: $8 

Tonight, join Halloween scholar Lesley Bannatyne as she traces our onetime children’s holiday-turned-blood-and-guts carnival from its tiny origins in northwestern Europe through its recent explosion in popularity in the States.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Monsters on the Brain: A Natural History of Horror
Illustrated lecture with Professor Stephen T. Asma, author of Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads and On Monsters
Date: Thursday, October 30
Time: 8 pm
Admission: $8 (Tickets here) 

In this talk Professor Stephen Asma–author of On Monsters–will use horror as an interdisciplinary bridge between humanities and scientific methodologies —a kind of case study for triangulating philosophy, psychology and biology. Recent research into the neuroscience of fear and cognition will be applied to some of the perennial monsters of our imagination.

More here.

_____________________________________________

Muerte en Mexico: A Special Field Trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca for for Day of the Dead to Visit Sites Important to the History of Death in Mexico
Dates: October 31 – November 4 2014 (**Must reserve by July 15)
 $675.00 USD (includes all hotels in double-rooms, luxury ground transportation, museum admissions, guided visits, and breakfasts; airfares not included); email info@borderlineprojects.com to reserve a space. Please send payments via PayPal to: info@borderlineprojects.com.

A 4-day trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca for Day of the Dead; curated, organized and guided by Mexican writer and scholar Salvador Olguín for Borderline Projects, and Morbid Anatomy. Includes day of the dead celebrations, markets, churches, luxury bus travel, hotels, tickets to museums and breakfasts.

More here.

1. Photo by Kurt Hollander
2. Corey Riddell and Natalie Wilkin.