Curious Collections

Friday 22 June, 18.00-22.00

This special late-night opening of all three galleries celebrated extraordinary collector Sir Henry Wellcome and the collecting instinct in so many of us. Why do we love to hoard, treasure, catalogue and categorise?

Amazing and amusing tales from performance storytellers

Throughout the evening three acclaimed storytellers from the Crick Crack Club performed spellbinding tales on the theme of collecting, inspired by objects in the galleries, exploring questions such as:

• Is the urge to collect natural or pathological?

• Where does our desire to 'complete the set' come from?

• Are trophies needed to prove the truth of a tale or boast?

Two celebratory collections marked our opening week

During the evening we played favourite tracks compiled from personal music collections. Selected contributions were used as part of an audiovisual performance by Silent Studios.

Visitors joined artist Gethan Dick and contributed words and phrases to her changing collection that best described their bodies.

The exhibition galleries, café and bookshop were open throughout this special evening, the first in a series of late-night, thematic events inspired by the collections.