BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art presents Death Animations, a one-day symposium considering societal, artistic and ethical attitudes to death and the preservation of the body.
Friday 19 October 2012 / 10.00-18.00
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
Booking essential
£30.00 / £25.00 concessions / Lunch included
Book tickets online from wegottickets.com or in person from BALTIC Shop. Concessions include unwaged, students and over 60s.
Artist and BALTIC Professor Christine Borland is developing research links between medical, scientific and contemporary art practice; her current collaborative project with fellow artist Brody Condon explores the dynamic of the anatomy dissection theatre and its’ constituency, considering the potential for performance and role-play within this context. The research for their project Circles of Focus is the foundation for the symposium. This interdisciplinary event, held at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art will include presentations by international experts – medical educators Dr Quentin Fogg and Professor Alan Bleakley, curator and art writer Dr Francis McKee, author Dr Ruth Richardson, bioethics lecturer Dr Simon Woods, Death Studies lecturer Dr John E Troyer, performance and Nordic LARP researcher Jaakko Stenros, in addition to artists Christine Borland and Brody Condon.
DEATH ANIMATIONS ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Saturday 20 October 2012
The symposium is complemented by three off-site visits the following day which have a reduced capacity. Call 0191 478 1810 or e-mail [email protected] to reserve a place.
Places are limited for the associated events. Please book quickly to secure a place.
ANATOMY & CLINICAL SKILLS VISIT: NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
10.30 / FREE / Pre-booking essential / 20 places only
A visit to Medical Sciences Education Development at Newcastle University with Dr. Roger Searle to view the labs, models, manikins, dissecting rooms and facilities. Visit will not include access to cadaveric body parts.
LEARNING FROM THE DEAD: DISSECTION WORKSHOP, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY
12.00–13.30 / FREE / Pre-booking essential / 30 places only
Dr Donal Shanahan BSc PhD (anatomy), Senior Lecturer in Anatomy at Northumbria University, will lead this dissection workshop in which candidates will experience how and where Northumbria University students learn. Attendees will take part in an active participation practical session learning about the anatomy and physiology of the heart by watching a narrated dissection video and then dissecting an animal heart, under supervision. Photography and audio will be used to capture and record these experiences.
WALKING LECTURE: MOORBANK BOTANICAL GARDENS, NEWCASTLE
14.00 / FREE / Pre-booking essential / 20 places only
Artists Ben Jeans Houghton and Matthew Giraudeau collaborate with scientist and traveller Dr George Wake to stage a walking lecture at Moorbank Botanical Gardens, Newcastle upon Tyne developing a narrative that begins before death telling the tale of our quest to better understand it, drawing from knowledge of the stars, the comets and the history of hallucinogens.
BALTIC Professor is an exciting post resulting from the BxNU Partnership between BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Northumbria University. The two organisations have come together with a joint vision creating a genuine learning and research partnership. BALTIC Professor is located at BALTIC 39, home to the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This symposium is a joint initiative organised by BALTIC Professor Christine Borland and BALTIC Curator of Exhibitions & Research, Alessandro Vincentelli. The project Circles of Focus is supported by Creative Scotland’s Vital Spark Fund. Thanks to Glasgow Sculpture Studios for project production.