This Saturday, April 10th, Observatory in Brooklyn, New York will be hosting the opening party for my new exhibition "The Secret Museum." Full details follow. Hope to see you there!
Exhibition: "The Secret Museum"
Opening party: Saturday April 10th, 7-10 PM
On view from April 10th-May 16th
Admission: FreeAn exhibition exploring the poetics of hidden, untouched and curious collections from around the world in photographs and artifacts, by Joanna Ebenstein, co-founder of Observatory and creator of Morbid Anatomy.
Photographer and blogger Joanna Ebenstein has traveled the Western world seeking and documenting untouched, hidden, and curious collections, from museum store-rooms to private collections, cabinets of curiosity to dusty natural history museums, obscure medical museums to hidden archives. The exhibition “The Secret Museum” will showcase a collection of photographs from Ebenstein’s explorations–including sites in The Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria, England and the United States–which document these spaces while at the same time investigating the psychology of collecting, the visual language of taxonomies, notions of “The Specimen” and the ordered archive, and the secret life of objects and collections, with an eye towards capturing the poetry, mystery and wonder of these liminal spaces. In tandem with this exhibition, Ebenstein has organized a 2 week “Collector’s Cabinet” at the The Coney Island Museum, which will showcase astounding objects held in private collections, including artifacts featured in her Private Cabinet photo series of 2009.
To download press release, which includes sample images, please click here.
ASSOCIATED LECTURES AND EVENTS
Congress for Curious People at the Coney Island Museum
2-day symposium exploring the idea of collecting curiosities in the 21st century as well as the politics, history, and changing methodology of collecting and collections. Also on view will be “The Collector’s Cabinet,” an installation of astounding artifacts held in private collections. A week of themed lectures at the Coney Island Museum will precede the symposium:The Saddest Object in the World
An Illustrated Meditation by Evan Michelson, Obscura Antiques and Oddities, Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in residence
Date: Monday, April 12th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, BrooklynTaxidermy in the Fine ArtsRobert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists
Date: Tuesday, April 13th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, BrooklynA Brief History of Automate
An Illustrated Lecture and Demonstration by Mike Zohn, Obscura Antiques and Oddities
Date: Wednesday, April 14th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, BrooklynA History of Taxidermy: Art, Science and Bad Taste
An Illustrated Presentation By Dr. Pat Morris, Royal Holloway, University of London
Date: Thursday, April 15th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, BrooklynCharles Wilson Peale and the Birth of the American Museum
An Illustrated Presentation by Samuel Strong Dunlap, PhD, Descendant of Charles Wilson Peale
Date: Friday, April 16th
Time: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: * Coney Island Museum, BrooklynMuseums, Monsters and the Moral Imagination
An Illustrated lecture with Professor Stephen Asma, author of Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads and On Monsters.
Date: Thursday, April 22
Time: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: * Observatory, BrooklynExperimenting with Death: An Introduction to Terror Management Theory
An Illustrated Lecture by Michael Johns, Former Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wyoming
Time: 8:00 PM
Date: Friday, May 7
LOCATION: * Observatory, Brooklyn
You can find out more by clicking here. You can get directions to Observatory by clicking here. You can find out more about the "Congress for Curious People" by clicking here. You can get on our mailing list by clicking here can join Observatory on Facebook by clicking here.
Image credits: Images 1-3: Tim Knox and Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Collection, London. Image 4: Archives 2009-015, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Image 5: Natural History Museum Store-room; Image 6: Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Rouen, Store-room; Image 7: "Femme à barbe," Musée Orfila. Courtesy of Paris Descartes University.
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- Animal Body Worlds at the Neunkirchen Zoo, Saarland, Germany - April 11th, 2010 [April 11th, 2010]
- Congress for Curious People: Lectures Begin Tomorrow Night at the Coney Island Museum! - April 12th, 2010 [April 12th, 2010]
- A Brief History of Automata, An Illustrated Lecture and Demonstration by Mike Zohn, Obscura Antiques and Oddities, TONIGHT! Coney Island Museum - April 14th, 2010 [April 14th, 2010]
- "The Brading Collection of Taxidermy, Waxworks, Costume and Similar Items," Duke's Auction House, Dorset, April 13th (Today!) - April 15th, 2010 [April 15th, 2010]
- Charles Wilson Peale and the Birth of the American Museum, Coney Island Museum, Tonight!!! - April 16th, 2010 [April 16th, 2010]
- "The Congress for Curious People," Epic 2-Day Symposium Begins Tomorrow!!! - April 16th, 2010 [April 16th, 2010]
- "A History of Taxidermy: Art, Science and Bad Taste," An Illustrated Presentation By Dr. Pat Morris, Congress for Curious People, Coney Island Museum - April 17th, 2010 [April 17th, 2010]
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- "Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads" Book and Lecture by Stephen Asma, Thursday April 22, Observatory - April 21st, 2010 [April 21st, 2010]
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- "Museums, Monsters and the Moral Imagination" Lecture by Stephen Asma, Tonight!, Observatory - April 22nd, 2010 [April 22nd, 2010]
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