Archives: Digital Events

A Look at Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy with Joanna Ebenstein

Live from Mexico on Zoom Joanna Ebenstein will tell us about how

Walter Potter (1835-1918), an amateur English taxidermist of no great expertise, became famous as an icon of Victorian whimsy with his anthropomorphic creations. Multi-legged kittens, two-headed lambs and a bewildering assortment of curios crammed his tiny museum in Bramber, Sussex, and inspired future generations of taxidermists to come.

The curious world of Potter’s museum was permanently closed to the public in the ’70s, after which time it was variously re-established before being auctioned off in 2003. It was reported that a £1M bid by Damien Hirst to keep the collection intact was refused, but in 2010 many of Potter’s key pieces were exhibited by the artist Sir Peter Blake at London’s ‘Museum of Everything’, attracting over 30,000 visitors in 6 weeks.

The subsequent dispersal of Potter’s works has meant the loss of a truly unique Victorian legacy. Together with co-author Dr Pat Morris, Joanna Ebenstein preserves and celebrates the collection with new photographs of Potter’s best-loved works in their book Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy.

Tonight, learn more about Potter with a short talk by Ebenstein paired with a screening of The Man Who Married Kittens, a short documentary look at one of Victorian England’s most enigmatic and quirky characters. Amateur taxidermist, Walter Potter, became an unlikely success by putting his creatures in human positions and scenarios, referred to as anthropomorphic taxidermy. Potter’s Museum, filled with his creations and collection of oddities and curiosities dazzled millions for over a hundred years until the collection’s unfortunate separation in 2003. While largely about the man and his creations, the film also takes a look at the obsessive nature of collecting, as well as the controversial history of stuffing dead animals

Joanna Ebenstein is a Mexico based writer, curator, artist and graphic designer. She is the creator of the Morbid Anatomy blog, library and event series, and was cofounder and creative director of the recently shuttered Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn. She is author of The Anatomical Venus, editor of the forthcoming Death: A Graveside Companion (October 2017), and co-author, with Dr Pat Morris, of Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy. She works regularly with such institutions as The Wellcome Collection and Amsterdam’s Vrolik Museum, and her writing and photography have been published and exhibited internationally. Her work explores the intersections of art and medicine, death and culture, and the objective and subjective.

Watch a recording of This Lecture, & 100s of others, for free when you join our Patreon www.patreon.com/theviktorwyndmuseum

The Ghost – A Cultural History with Susan Owens – Zoom Lecture

Five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has even been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.” –Samuel Johnson Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts–the fears they provoke, the forms they take–are connected to the conventions and beliefs of each particular era, from the marauding undead of the Middle Ages to the psychologically charged presences of our own age. The ghost is no less than the mirror of the times. Organized chronologically, this new cultural history features a dazzling range of artists and writers, including William Hogarth, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Susan Hiller and Jeremy Deller; John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Muriel Spark, Hilary Mantel, and Sarah Waters.

The Unnatural History Museum – NMM Cornwall – Viktor Wynd’s Zoom Tour

A recording will be sent to ticketholders who miss the event

Join artist Viktor Wynd for an intimate tour and walk through of his new Cornish Museum. enter inside his mind, a place peopled by Unicorns, Fairies, Giants, Mermaids, myths, legends and dreams. A voyage to the monsters that live in the depths of his subconscious, from a two headed kitten and a two headed teddy bear to a selkie’s foot, a baby’s caul and a magical jar of moles. Viktor Wynd is a ‘pataphysical artist who uses museum objects in the way that other artists use tubes of paint, a writer who presents his novel on hand written museum labels. Founder and proprietor, since 2009, of London’s infamous & eponymous Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History he invites you to come in, enjoy and exit through The Egress.

the evening will finish with a bedtime story – not necessarily suitable for the squeamish

Viktor Wynd’s UnNatural History Museum is at The National Maritime Museum, Falmouth until the end of 20

The Nazis & The Occult – Zoom Lecture – Michael Fitzgerald

This frightening lecture shows how Hitler and Himmler infected the Nazi Party with the dangerous belief that, through occult skills, the ‘master race’ could gain dominion over the world. Every dictatorship requires a justification, either historical or moral, and Hitler rooted his in anti-scientific mumbo-jumbo, Wagnerian legend and Satanism. Michael FitzGerald’s chilling investigation reveals that Hitler consulted Nostradamus before taking key military decisions; that the Thulists, a weird sect which practised human sacrifice and sexual perversions, founded the German Workers Party; and, that black masses were conducted for an elite SS corps at a ‘Black Camelot’ in Wewelsberg. The Nazi’s even had their own occult bureau, the Ahnenerbe, whose research into bizarre cosmological theory, astrology and UFO’s exhausted more funds than America’s atom bomb. Against this powerful armoury of evil was ranked the benevolent magic of the Allies, both at government and individual level. Psychic advisers were employed by both Stalin and Churchill, and the latter even held high-level talks with the occultist Aleister Crowley. White witches, meeting in the New Forest, attempted to thwart ‘Operation Sealion’ (Hitler’s planned invasion) through coven rituals. In the United States, moreover, whilst research into ‘mind control’ was vigorously pursued, the government, in a shadowy affair known as the Philadelphia Experiment, attempted to dematerialize one of their own submarines. Michael FitzGerald goes behind the war’s public events to reveal a hidden agenda of psychic conflict, fought at the highest level

Michael FitzGerald is a historian of the Third Reich. He is also the author of ‘Adolf Hitler: A Portrait’ which won an award for historical biography, and ‘The Making of Modern Streatham’, written jointly with his Janet. In 2008 he was the principal contributor to the Discovery Channel programme, ‘Dark Fellowships: The Vril Society’, a topic which features in the present book. He has also given numerous talks to a variety of organizations over the years. ‘The Nazi Occult War’ was published by Arcturus in 2013 , he is also the auhtor of ‘Hitler’s Secret Weapons,’ ‘Unsolved Mysteries of World War Two’ and ‘Hitler’s War Beneath The Waves’ published by them over the last four years.

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image By Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-04051A / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5479574

Cornish Folklore and Myth with Alex Langstone on Zoom

Cornwall is an ancient land steeped in legend and myth. From Granite to Sea explores the folklore of the often-overlooked eastern reaches of the rugged Cornish peninsula; at the heart of which lies Bodmin Moor. This beautiful and remote land of granite, which forms the Cornish highlands, inhabits eighty square miles across the central spine of eastern Cornwall. A wild and mysterious place, where folklore permeates every hill, rock and river. Inhabited by piskies, giants and conjurors, who in turn control the old trackways, hilltops and weather.

From Granite to Sea is the first book to comprehensively focus on the folklore of Bodmin Moor and eastern Cornwall, and Alex Langstone will talk about why he wrote the book and will focus his favourite folkloric landscapes and narratives that have emerged from some of the remotest coastal and moorland communities across eastern Cornwall.

The Origins & Rituals of Absinthe: A Virtual Lecture & Tasting with Devil’s Botany

Join Directors of The Last Tuesday Society & Founders of Devil’s Botany, Allison Crawbuck & Rhys Everett, for a virtual lecture as they explore the origins & rituals of absinthe.

Guests are invited to channel the notorious spirit of the Belle Époque. The event will begin with a virtual absinthe tasting of the award-winning Devil’s Botany London Absinthe, and look into how the mysterious spirit has been prepared for centuries.

After everyone’s senses are well lubricated, the duo will explore tales of the absinthe’s tantalising past, from its origins as a cure-all elixir to a delightful aperitif, before eventually enduring a near century-long ban.

General admission includes a ticket to the virtual lecture. Guests are encouraged to have a glass of Devil’s Botany London Absinthe in hand during the event to bring the tales of this exquisite elixir to life.

Tasting sets of Devil’s Botany London Absinthe are available via: www.devilsbotany.com/shop.

Discount codes will be sent with your e-ticket for absinthe tasting sets or full 500ml bottles of Devil’s Botany London Absinthe.

Email [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this event.

Event is suitable for 18+ only.

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About the Hosts

Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett have always shared a passion for unearthing curious tales and rendering them in liquid form. The duo are co-owners of The Last Tuesday Society’s cocktail bar in East London, transforming Hackney’s best-kept secret into the city’s favourite absinthe and cocktail haunt. In 2019, it was voted the Best Bar in London at the 7th annual Design My Night Awards by a public vote of over 180,000 Londoners, and in 2020, their absinthe menu was shortlisted for Imbibe’s Specialist List of the Year.

In December 2020, Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett launched London’s first Absinthe distillery: Devil’s Botany located in the city’s east end. They are also authors of Spirits of the Otherworld: A Grimoire of Occult Cocktails & Drinking Rituals, published by Prestel/RandomHouse (Sep 2021 | ISBN 9783791387147).

For the Love of Birds: An Introduction to Birdwatching by Mark Cocker on Zoom

Birdwatching is the most popular form of natural history on Earth with millions of devotees in all countries. But why? What is it about birds that compels the human imagination. Lifelong birder and multi-award winning author Mark Cocker gives an introductory tour of the entire avian story. He explores how our love for birds has literally changed the world. Richly illustrated with images, the talk will take you on a tour of Planet Bird and is intended to make a birder of us all.

Speaker: Mark Cocker is a multi-award winning author and naturalist, whose 12 books include Crow Country, Our Place and Claxton. Over the last four decades he has also published more than 1000 essays on nature in national and international newspapers especially the Guardian.

Images courtesy of the speaker

In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States – Tere Arcq

A recording of this lecture will be sent to ticketholders who miss the live performance

Live from Mexico City Teresa Arcq will discuss her LACMA exhibition

In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and The United States

The surrealist movement in art is most often identified with male artists, many of whom objectified women in their paintings, casting them as sexual or symbolic ideals. Conversely, the female artists of the movement delved primarily into their own subconscious and dreams. This lecture features the work of up to 48 Mexican and U.S.-based women artists whose contributions to the surrealist movement span more than four decades and whose work was both influential and radical in its own right.This unique lecture illustrates surrealism as a gateway to self-discovery, especially in North America, where women artists were freed from oppressive European traditions and the vagaries of war. From 1931, the year of Lee Miller’s first surreal photograph, to 1968, when Yayoi Kusama presented her landmark happening ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in New York’s Central Park, the artists and works depicted here are both significant and extraordinary in their explorations of personal and universal truths

Tere Arcq was Chief Curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico and Director of an International Art Investment Fund. As an independent curator, she creates and produces exhibitions in Mexico and abroad. Her most recent is Leonora Carrington Magical Tales at Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City and MARCO in Monterrey. In 2012 she curated In Wonderland. The Adventures of Women Surrealists in Mexico and the United States, an international project presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), The National Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec and The Modern Art Museum in Mexico.

Her expertise in the art world includes, teaching; edition of art books and exhibition catalogues; collaboration in the production of documentaries and short films on artists and the design and organization of specialized art tours for collectors. She is a frequent lecturer at museums, institutions and universities worldwide.

Tere Arcq is an Art Historian with a Masters Degree in Museum Studies and Art Management.

Dragons – Professor Ronald Hutton Zoom Lecture

A recording of this lecture will be available to ticket holders for two weeks after the lecture

In the modern Western world, dragons occupy a curious dual space. On the one hand for many people and in many stories, they retain a traditional role as terrifying and predatory monsters which must be slain by heroes. On the other, they are as frequently now represented as friends and allies, faithful steeds or embodiments of benign earth energies. Things get more complex and interesting when it is realised that these two aspects are themselves ancient: in the Old World, western dragons have generally been malevolent, and the dragons of the Far East benevolent. So why is this, and why has the western attitude changed in the modern era? Also, did dragons ever exist, and could they exist, and why did so many humans believe in them if they did not? These are the questions which Ronald Hutton sets out to answer in this talk.

Speaker: Professor Ronald Hutton is a Professor of History at the University of Bristol. He is a leading authority on history of the British Isles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, on ancient and medieval paganism and magic, and on the global context of witchcraft beliefs.

Solstice Dispensary of Herbal Midsummer Madness- The Apothecary’s Daughter

Make hay (metaphorically speaking!) with The Apothecary’s Daughteras on Zoom as she discusses the meaning and rituals behind the summer solstice, whilst bringing to light a selection of her favourite seasonal plants, and those with particular connection to the magic of midsummer.

SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION: A dispensary of herbal midsummer madness with The Apothecary’s Daughter

Make hay (metaphorically speaking!) with The Apothecary’s Daughter as she discusses the meaning and rituals behind the summer solstice, whilst bringing to light a selection of her favourite seasonal plants, and those with particular connection to the magic of midsummer.

St John’s Wort, Chamomile, Lavender and Sage are just a handful that will be harvested and celebrated. This is a time to purify and connect with the spiritual fires within, and to gather one’s protective mantle in preparation for the darker times ahead.

Maria Vlotides began The Apothecary’s Daughter after completing a degree in Herbal Medicine at the University of Westminster in 2007. Having initially read PPE at Oxford University during the dark ages, she found herself hanging out with increasing regularity at the University’s Botanical Garden, fascinated by plant beds and the magic held within leaves and buds. She had a clinical practice until 2016 and has since continued to focus on teaching and writing. Her book Pharmapoetica in collaboration with poet and author Chris McCabe was nominated for the Ted Hughes Award in 2013. Visit www.the-apothecarys-daughter.com