We have loads of great events coming up at the Morbid Anatomy Museum!
First off: Tomorrow night--Monday, August 4th--we have the night one of "Tales from the Celluloid Coffin," a four-part series of death-themed screenings curated by Morbid Anatomy's current scholar in residence Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. The theme of tonight's film is Death, Dystopia and Technology Circa 1970, and tickets can be purchased here.
Later that week, on Thursday, August 7, we have Dr. Paul Koudounaris of Empire of Death fame, with a much anticipated (and sadly sold out!) lecture on, yes, Demonically Possessed Cats.
On Friday, August 8th, we have a heavily illustrated lecture by one of our favorite ever speakers and rogue scholars--Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic and Grand Guiginol--on "Cabarets of Death": Bizarre, death-themed nightclubs popular in fin de siècle Paris. Gordon will also share rare film clips of these clubs, "each of which was devoted to 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." Thematic music will also be provided by our own DJ in residence Friese Undine. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Following, this Sunday, August 10, we have Afternoon Mourning: Screening with Tonya Hurley and Terrarium Workshop with Flower Artist Emily Thompson; you can purchase tickets for that by clicking here.
Later that week, on Thursday, August 7, we have Dr. Paul Koudounaris of Empire of Death fame, with a much anticipated (and sadly sold out!) lecture on, yes, Demonically Possessed Cats.
On Friday, August 8th, we have a heavily illustrated lecture by one of our favorite ever speakers and rogue scholars--Mel Gordon, author of Voluptuous Panic and Grand Guiginol--on "Cabarets of Death": Bizarre, death-themed nightclubs popular in fin de siècle Paris. Gordon will also share rare film clips of these clubs, "each of which was devoted to 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." Thematic music will also be provided by our own DJ in residence Friese Undine. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
Following, this Sunday, August 10, we have Afternoon Mourning: Screening with Tonya Hurley and Terrarium Workshop with Flower Artist Emily Thompson; you can purchase tickets for that by clicking here.
Following is a full list of all upcoming Morbid Anatomy Museum events. You can also see them in a more graphic fashion on our spiffy new website calendar by clicking here.
Also, please note: events tend to sell out; we strongly recommend pre-purchasing a ticket to ensure admission!
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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: THIS WEEK 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.
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Demonically Possessed Cats: Illustrated lecture with Dr. Paul Koudounaris
Date: THIS WEEK Thursday, August 7
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8 (Sponsored by Via Wines)
SOLD OUT
**Copies of Heavenly Bodies will be available for sale and signing**
Does your cat do things like:
– spit fire?
– speak in tongues?
– levitate?
– shape shift?
– wantonly kill people for no apparent reason?
This behavior may be more than simple bad kitty syndrome—your cat may be possessed by a demon. Paul Koudounaris, author of the cult macabre tomes Empire of Death and Heavenly Bodies has immersed himself in the study of demonic cats, and will return to the Morbid Anatomy Museum to give a talk on this sadly neglected topic.
More here.
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Cabarets of Death: Illustrated Lecture and Rare Film Clips with Mel Gordon, Author of Voluptuous Panic and DJ in residence Friese Undine
Date: THIS WEEK 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.
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Afternoon Mourning: Screening with Tonya Hurley and Terrarium Workshop with Flower Artist Emily Thompson
Date: THIS WEEK Sunday August 10
Time: 1pm
Admission: $98 (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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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David Icke, The Lizards and the Jews: Screening and discussion with journalist and film-maker Jon Ronson; Night one of "The Jon Ronson Adventures"
Date: Thursday, August 21st
Time: 8pm
Admission: $15 (Tickets here)
For nearly twenty years the author and documentary maker Jon Ronson has undertaken a series of extraordinary adventures, which became the basis for a series of documentary films. This series will feature rare screenings of the highlights of Jon’s documentary career, followed with a talk and a Q&A by Jon after each.
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The Burden of Proof: 20th Century ESP Research and the Search for the Soul Illustrated lecture by Heather Duncan, PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo
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.
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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?
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Spirits and Ghosts I Have Known and Loved
Illustrated 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Morbid Ink: The Permanence of Memorial Tattoos
Illustrated lecture by John John Troyer, Ph.D., Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath and Morbid Anatomy Scholar in Residence
Date: Wednesday, August 13
Time: 8pmAdmission: $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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"Ghost of Michael Jackson" birthday/karaoke party sponsored by Hendrick's Gin and featuring a lecture by Shannon Taggart on "the curious afterlife of Michael Jackson"
Date: Friday, August 29
Time: 8pm
Admission: $20 (tickets here)
Please join us to celebrate the birthday of Michael Jackson with a very special night of drinks, music videos, and karaoke sponsored by Hendrick's Gin and featuring a talk by Shannon Taggart on "the curious afterlife of Michael Jackson."
More here.
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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.
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Morbid Curiosity: A Morbid Anatomy Single's Night
Date: Wednesday September 3rd
Time: 8pm
Admission: $15 (Sponsored by Fox Barrel Cider
Tickets here
Queer, transgender and straight-friendly singles night sponsored by Fox Barrel Cider and hosted by Daisy Tainton.
More here.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.