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The Art of Anatomy: A Symposium to Celebrate the Release of the book Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human Anatomy

Time: 12 pm EDT
Tickets HERE

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This Symposium will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 10 am EST the day of the lectures. Attendees may request a video recording AFTER the lecture takes place by emailing proof of purchase to info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Video recordings are valid for 7 days after the date of the lecture.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 10.30 am EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

For centuries, humankind has sought to know itself through an understanding of the body, in sickness and in health, inside and out. This fascination left in its wake a rich body of artworks that demonstrate not only the facts of the human body, but also the ways in which our ideas about the body and its proper representation have changed over time. At times both beautiful and repulsive, illustrated anatomy continues to hold our interest today, and is frequently referenced in popular culture. The new book Anatomica, by Morbid Anatomy founder Joanna Ebenstein with medical editor Marie Dauenheimer, brings together nearly 300 of the most striking, fascinating and bizarre anatomical artworks from the 16th through to the 20th century, exploring human anatomy in one beautiful volume.

This daylong symposium will explore, in six fascinating illustrated lectures, the vivid images and changing meanings of anatomical art over the centuries. Topics will include “Murders in the Anatomy Museum,” ”Albinus and the Creation of Homo Perfectus, human dissection "considered as art and abyss," and esoteric anatomy and the poetic body. Speakers will include Michael Sappol, medical historian formerly of The National Library of Medicine and curator of Dream Anatomy; Ross MacFarlane, Research Development Specialist at Wellcome Collection; Anatomical Artist Eleanor Crook; philosophy professor and author of On Monsters Stephen Asma, author Joanna Ebenstein and medical editor Marie Dauenheimer. The day will be overseen by MC and moderator Evan Michelson of Obscura Antiques and TV’s Oddities.

FULL SCHEDULE

  • 12:00 pm - Welcome Address by Evan Michelson, of TV’s Oddities

  • 12:10 pm - The Punished Suicide and other Murders in the Anatomy Museum: Medical Historian Michael Sappol, Formerly of the National Library of Medicine

  • 12:55 pm - Resurrecting ‘The Body in Question’: Ross MacFarlane of The Wellcome Library

  • 1:40 pm - Dissection Considered as Art and Abyss: Anatomical with Artist Eleanor Crook

  • 2:25 pm - Anatomica: Visions of Death and the Body: Joanna Ebenstein, Author and Founder of Morbid Anatomy

  • 3:05 pm - Albinus, Wanderlaar, and the Creation of Homo Perfectus with Marie Dauenheimer, MA, CMI, FAMI, and Medical Editor of Anatomica

  • 3:55 pm - Esoteric Anatomy: From the Poetic to the Mechanical Body… and Back with Dr Stephen Asma, Columbia College

CLICK HERE for speaker abstracts and biographies