07 April 2009

A unique mix of galleries, events and meeting, reading and eating places, dedicated to exploring the connections between medicine, life and art.

All events are free but must be booked in advance, except for 'Wellcome Collection Packed Lunch', 'Midsummer Picnic' and 'Quacks and Cures', where no booking is necessary.

For further information, see Wellcome Collection events or call 020 7611 2222.

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Wellcome Collection Packed Lunch

Friday 5 and Wednesday 17 June, 13.00-13.45

Nourish your mind and body at one of our new daytime discussions. You can manage it in your lunch hour, it's free and you can eat your sarnies as you listen to a local scientist talking about their latest experiment, life in the lab and why science matters to all of us. This event will be held in the Forum in the 'Medicine Now' gallery. No booking required.

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Walking tours

Following their sell-out success in October 2008, the 'Medical London' walking tours are back. Led by expert guides, these walks explore the hidden histories of the city from Chelsea to Bloomsbury, Greenwich and beyond.

Life and Death by Water
A guided walk on the medieval Thames with Mark Pilkington, Strange Attractor Press Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June, 15.30-17.30
Follow the ebb and flow of the Thames - London's lifeline, but also the bringer of filth and disease - and with it the ebb and flow of sickness and cure. Discover the sights, sounds and stomach-churning smells of the medieval riverside, from the butchery of surgeons to the learned hopelessness of physicians and the fiery end of the medieval city.

This walk starts at Mansion House Tube station and ends at Monument Tube station.

Blood, Guts, Children and Power
Discover the hidden medical histories of London's medical quarter with Richard Barnett, author of 'Medical London'
Saturdays 6 and 13 June, 11.00-13.00
For the last two-and-a-half centuries the elegant terraces and squares of Holborn, Bloomsbury and St Pancras have played host to the grandeur of the Royal College of Surgeons, hospitals for sick children and poor immigrants, and the homes of figures such as Charles Darwin and Virginia Woolf.

This two-hour walk reveals the hidden history of London's medical quarter.

This tour starts from Holborn Tube station and ends at Wellcome Collection.

Tall Ships and Tropical Diseases
Medicine and the British Empire in Greenwich with Ross MacFarlane, archivist, Wellcome Library
Sunday 7 and 14 June, 11.00-13.00
Until the mid-20th century London was one of the world's largest ports. Trade with other nations and the Empire brought fabulous wealth, intoxicating power and new medicines, but ships also returned with less welcome discoveries such as cholera and typhoid. Walk in the footsteps of naval surgeons, merchants, tars and astronomers as you trace the relationship between medicine and the powerful British impulse to trade and conquer.

This circular walk starts and ends at Cutty Sark Tube station.

In the Footsteps of Daniel Defoe
A guided journey through the 'Plague Year' with Alice Ford-Smith, Principal Librarian, Dr Williams's Library
Saturday 13 June, 11.00-13.00
The Great Plague of 1665-66 is the most infamous episode in London's medical history. In his 'Journal of the Plague Year', published in 1722, Daniel Defoe - an archetypal Londoner - memorialised the sufferings of the city he loved. His fictional avatar 'H F' will be your guide as you weave the story of the Great Plague with Defoe's life as satirist, rebel, convict and spy.

This walk starts at Tower Hill Tube station and ends at Moorgate Tube station.

From Homeopaths to Psychopaths
Explore bohemian medicine in Chelsea with Max Decharne, author
Sunday 14 June, 15.30-17.30
Behind the Georgian facades and leafy mews of London's most exclusive postcode have lurked artistic excess, disease, mania and some of the richest doctors in Britain. Discover the light and dark sides of the Royal Borough, from Hans Sloane's elegant Physic Garden and the beginning of alternative medicine to the decadent, diseased pre-Raphaelites and the gruesome triumphs of forensic pathology.

This walk starts at Sloane Square Tube station and ends at South Kensington Tube station.

Pox and Pleasure
A guided night walk through Soho with Mike Jay, editor of Medical London
Sunday 14 June, 18.30-20.30
By day, Soho contains many worlds - the rag trade, the film business, high fashion and high art - but by night it presents its age-old face as London's pleasure hub, offering entertainment, intoxication and sex.

A night stroll brings to life centuries of raucous thrill-seeking, and of the medical characters who have always lurked in its shadows, some offering discreet cures for overindulgence, others campaigning to cleanse the city of its filth. Go in the footsteps of William Hunter, John Snow and some less savoury characters to uncover the story of medicine and disease in the grubby heart of the West End.

This walk starts at Tottenham Court Road Tube station (Exit 4, Centre Point) and ends at Piccadilly Circus Tube station.

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Apparatus

Join us for a series of events discussing the power of the body in performance and watch our guests demonstrate how their apparatus is central to their craft. The events are chaired by popular science communicator Timandra Harkness.

A Dancer's Body
Thursday 11 June, 19.00-20.30
Muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones…so many parts of our anatomy contribute to movement. Join Emma Redding, Programme Leader in Dance Science at Laban, as she unpacks the complex mechanics behind performance and explores the training and work of dancers.

The Articulate Hand 
Thursday 18 June, 19.00-20.30 
Is it possible for just one part of the body to communicate whole stories to an audience? What are the challenges that this presents for a performer? Join physical theatre performer and director Andrew Dawson for an insight into how hands are central to his practice.

Vocal Limits 
Thursday 25 June, 19.00-20.30 
The voice, your very own instrument, can sing, shriek, beat and drone. Vocal folds, vibrations and breathing all have an impact on how our voice sounds. Why don't more singers know about their own anatomy? Join our special guests to uncover the magical world of the larynx and much more.

Words Don't Work
Thursday 9 July, 19.00-20.30
Is it possible for movement to communicate something that can't be said with words? Dancer Catherine Long was born with one arm and impaired hip and knee joints. She'll be demonstrating how her practice allows her to communicate ideas about the body that are impossible for her to say with words.

Body in Action 
Thursday 23 July, 19.00-20.30 
Can the theatre teach us something about how we sit, stand and move in our own skin? Join renowned movement director Lorna Marshall as she demonstrates and discusses the relationship that actors have with their bodies when developing a performance.

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Midsummer Picnic

Saturday 20 June, 12.00-17.00

Calling all collectors to join our Midsummer Picnic! Taking place in Cumberland Market, near to Wellcome Collection, this is an event for the local community at which local residents will display their collections on stalls designed by artist duo Juneau Projects and inspired by Henry Wellcome and his collection. There will be activities for adults and children throughout the afternoon, and visitors are invited to bring food to eat and share.

The event will be a traditional summer picnic, with a dash of 'Antiques Roadshow' and the Pitt Rivers Museum thrown in for good luck. This event is produced by General Public Agency.

Quacks and Cures

Friday 10 July, 19.00-23.00

Opening with a lively 19th-century 'quack' medicine show, this evening will occupy the entire Wellcome Collection building in unfolding a range of enlightening and entertaining events. Through the lens of medical history the audience will be invited to consider the connections and overlaps between past and present approaches to treatment.

Reconstructions and diagnoses from the 18th and 19th centuries will be presented alongside interactive events that explore contemporary approaches to remedies and cures. Whether it's testing your own choices in the 'Quack Quiz' or encountering a shaman, 'alternative' and 'orthodox' practitioners will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss.

The debates that have raged for over three centuries regarding the efficacy of treatments available to us are as current as our choices are vast. Do centuries-old 'cures' still have currency? Why do ancient remedies refuse to go away and do they work in opposition to or sit alongside contemporary medical orthodoxy?

This snapshot of approaches invites the audience to take the 'long view' and consider their choice of cure.

All events are free but must be booked in advance, except for 'Wellcome Collection Packed Lunch' and 'Midsummer Picnic', where no booking is necessary.

For further information, see Wellcome Collection events or call 020 7611 2222.

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Wellcome Collection special exhibitions

Madness & Modernity: Mental illness and the visual arts in Vienna 1900 
Open until 28 June 2009

‘Madness & Modernity’ looks at the relationship between mental illness and the visual arts in Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century, curated by the architectural historian Leslie Topp and the art historian Gemma Blackshaw.

The exhibition looks at the interest in mental illness among artists such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, and at the work of leading modernist designers and architects Hans Hoffmann and Otto Wagner, who sought to create a new kind of environment for the care of mentally ill people.

As well as original paintings and drawings by the above, among others, the exhibition includes artworks by asylum patients, therapeutic equipment, architectural models and two specially commissioned films that contrast the buildings of Wagner with the kind of asylums they were designed to replace.

Bobby Baker's Diary Drawings: Mental illness and me, 1997-2008
Open until 28 June 2009
Bobby Baker was a pioneer in the field of performance art whose work has always been suffused with sharp humour. She also has a history of mental illness and for several years she has documented in watercolour drawings, often with text, her experience of this illness and of the different treatments she has received. Only in recent times has she begun to show the drawings to people.

Highly personal, beautiful but hard-hitting and often very funny, this is the first public exhibition of these drawings. Find out more about the exhibition.

Wellcome Collection permanent galleries

Wellcome Collection's permanent galleries are a must-see on London's cultural map. Where else can you see a Peruvian mummy sitting alongside Florence Nightingale's slippers and Napoleon's toothbrush? The two permanent galleries are:

'Medicine Man' (350 m²): This exhibition contains more than 500 strange and beautiful artefacts from Sir Henry Wellcome's original collection, presented in a rich American walnut-panelled gallery, centred on a large 'Wunderkammer' cabinet.

'Medicine Now' (350 m²): This exhibition explores contemporary medical topics through the eyes of scientists, artists and popular culture in a bright contemporary environment.

Admission to Wellcome Collection is free. Charges may apply for some special events. Under-14s must be accompanied by an adult.

Further details can be found on the Wellcome Collection website.

Opening hours
Monday 10.00-18.00 (Galleries closed, except public holidays)
Tuesday 10.00-18.00
Wednesday 10.00-18.00
Thursday 10.00-22.00 (Library until 20.00)
Friday 10.00-18.00
Saturday 10.00-18.00 (Library until 16.00)
Sunday 11.00-18.00 (Library closed)

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Gallery Tours

Tours are specially designed and researched by our knowledgeable Visitor Services Assistants, and last approximately 30 minutes.

Saturdays, 14.30: tour of 'Medicine Now' gallery

Sundays, 14.30: tour of 'Medicine Man' gallery

For the duration of 'Madness & Modernity', tours of this exhibition will take place each Saturday from 11.30.

For information about booking a guided tour especially for your group, please visit our website.

Behind-the-scenes Tours

Join a walking tour to explore the building, the satellite artworks and the work of the Wellcome Trust in more depth. They take place on the last Friday of every month at 13.00.

These tours last approximately one hour and there are limited seating opportunities.

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Wellcome Library Insights

Insights sessions from the Wellcome Library provide an opportunity to learn more about the rich diversity of the Library's collection.

Healing Herbs 
Thursday 4 June, 15.00-16.00 
Discover the history of 'herbals' - manuscripts and books that preserve our knowledge of the plant-based remedies used by people in the past.

Anatomies of London ('Story of London' events)
Saturday 6 June, 15.00-16.00
Saturday 13 June, 15.00-16.00
Discover fascinating, illuminating and sometimes lurid tales of London life preserved in the Wellcome Library.

Around the World in 100 Years 
Thursday 18 June, 15.00-16.00
Find out about the adventures of globe-trotting explorers, surgeons and ordinary tourists whose records have found their way into the Wellcome Library.

Anatomies of London
Thursday 16 July, 15.00-16.00
Discover fascinating, illuminating and sometimes lurid tales of London life preserved in the Wellcome Library.

Stories from Silence

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 July, 14.00-15.15 (timings tbc)
A selection of specially commissioned stories that bring items from the Wellcome Library's rich collections to life.

Freelance storytellers have been commissioned to create original stories that weave a fictional tale around the (often limited) facts we know about individual items from the Wellcome Library's collections. The actual objects will be on display during the performances.

We are aiming to have one story created in BSL, and one created by an individual trained in audio-description. All the stories will be either BSL or speech-to-text interpreted. More details to be confirmed nearer the time.

Visits are free but places are limited. To reserve your place, book online via Wellcome Collection events. If you are a group of six or more and would like to arrange a group visit, email librarygroupvisits@wellcome.ac.uk or call 020 7611 8659.

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Contact

Mike Findlay
Senior Media Officer (Wellcome Collection)
T 020 7611 8612
E m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk

Notes for editors

The Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is the largest charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over £600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

Wellcome Collection

The Wellcome Trust's former headquarters, the Wellcome Building on London's Euston Road, has been redesigned by Hopkins Architects to become a new £30 million public venue. Free to all, Wellcome Collection explores the connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. The building comprises three galleries, a public events space, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop, conference facilities and a members' club.