When: 31 October 2012, 7pm – 9.45pm
Where: Museum of London
£: 10, concessions 9 and Friends free (book in advance by phoning 020 7001 9844)
What is it?
Discover the Museum of London’s new exhibition Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men, after dark this Halloween with their Late event. Immerse yourself in macabre activities and performances inspired by the world of the early 19th century body snatchers and the surgeons they supplied. The adult-only evening bringing to life a shadowy and fascinating period of London’s history. This is not an evening for the faint of heart.
As well as being an opportunity to view the exhibition, visitors can drop into wax modelling workshops and press-mould body parts with sculptor and medical artist, Eleanor Crook. Artist-in-residence at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Pathology Museum and Galleries, Geoff Harrison, is running Halloween card-making sessions. Design fantastical creatures based on his grisly anatomical illustrations.
Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men curator, Jelena Bekvalac, is leading ‘object in focus’ tours, taking a closer look at a handful of the fascinating items within the exhibition. There are also gruesome pathological cakes on offer from the devilish baking sensation Eat Your Heart Out.
Watch quirky short films by theatre troupe, Cartoon del Salvo, as they explore the true story of ‘The Irish Giant’, an eight foot man targeted by surgeons looking to dissect his body.
Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men reveals the extreme lengths nineteenth century medical pioneers went to, to increase anatomical understanding. The exhibition is based on the extraordinary and unexpected discoveries of a 2006 archaeological dig at the Royal London Hospital, carried out by Museum of London Archaeology. Many of the skeletal remains excavated showed evidence of dissection. The discovery offers fresh insight into dissection at the time and the murky trade of dead bodies.
More info: www.museumoflondon.org.uk