Photo by Jim Moore, 2011

A matchbox theatre performance by Deborah Kaufmann
Dates: Thursday, February 2nd & Friday February 3rd
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $12
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** Audience limited to 25 people per show; first come, first served

“The way each box reveals its tiny inhabitants is entrancing and Deborah Kaufmann… is sweetly enchanting.” – The Village Voice

“Depicted with comic deadpan perversity… a wink and raised eyebrow of an entertainment.” – www.womanaroundtown.com

Buried Alive! a matchbox theatre, is a frightfully funny exploration of our fear of being buried alive and of the curious phenomenon of 19th Century “waiting mortuaries.” Based on historical and medical facts. Tiny, intimate and interactive, full of dreadful discoveries for an adult audience.

BURIED ALIVE! is performed on a tabletop and is constructed entirely in and of matchboxes. It takes advantage of the unique qualities of these tiny stages. Images and characters slide out, slide through, pop up, and drop out of the matchboxes. A merry eccentric matron is your guide. The Nineteenth Century is evoked, but BURIED ALIVE! is creatively anachronistic and plays with scale.

Buried Alive! was inspired by an article entitled, “Pediatric Brain Death,” found in a hospital resident on-call room, and by research into the myths, truths, history and ethics surrounding the true moment of biological death.

Conceived, constructed and performed by Deborah Kaufmann. Kaufmann has delighted audiences in Europe, Australia and across North America with original physical comedy. This year she celebrates 25 years with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program, where she brings the joy of circus to hospitalized children, their families and caregivers. She has been called, “by no means merely cute … a performer to be trusted, enjoyed and seen”  —nytheatre.com

A workshop with Julianne Zaleta
Date: Sunday, December 11th
Time: 1-4pm
Admission: $80  (Class size is very limited, so you must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend)
Presented by: Phantasmaphile

Smell is the most neglected of our senses yet it has an instantaneous power to penetrate our consciousness invoking memories and emotion. Odors are ethereal and elusive yet can strongly attract or repel.

As a concerned consumer, you are choosing organic food, seeking out sustainable products and opting for eco-friendly packaging. But what about the fragrance you wear? That signature scent is likely composed of synthetic materials (as most commercial fragrances are), mass-produced, packaged and shipped around the world in the millions of units.   Natural perfumery is a much different process that uses only essential oils and precious absolutes that are extracted from plants. Like fine wine, subtle differences can be found from the same plant from year to year depending on soil conditions and climate meaning that it is not an exact science but a creative alchemical process.

In this sensory workshop we will examine the artisanal art of natural perfumery.  Students will gain a basic understanding of the sense of smell, the history of perfume, the advent of synthetic ingredients and the return to naturals.  Perfume ingredients and formulation will be explored and each participant will leave with two bottles of their own bespoke perfume.

No prior knowledge of perfume making is required.  Students should bring a notebook to class, all other materials will be provided.

Julianne Zaleta is a natural perfumer, aromatherapist and herbalist and has trained with Michael Scholes and Jeanne Rose. Owner and sole proprietor of her own company, Herbal Alchemy Apothecary, Julianne creates aromatic and therapeutic remedies and elixirs for a wide variety of ailments. As a perfumer she has trained with Mandy Aftel to create a line of all natural perfumes.

Stop-motion set for The Quay Brothers' film "Bruno Schulz's Street of Crocodiles"

An introduction to stop motion animation with Hayley Morris of Curious Pictures
Date: Saturday, November 12
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 PM
Admission: $50
*** Class size limited to 12; please RSVP to Gfnewland [at] gmail.com
Part of the Oxberry Peg Presents Series

Hayley Morris, animator and director with Curious Pictures, will teach the fundamentals of movement and timing through clay and object animation. The class will include an introductory lecture and then will proceed to hands-on experimentation with movement, materials and lighting. Three professional animation work stations will be provided. Students will come out of the class with a basic understanding of the animated process, an appreciation for the art form and a dvd of their animated film.

Hayley Morris is a director, animator and artist. She received her B.F.A in Film/Animation/Video from the Rhode Island School of Design where she specialized in stop-motion animation. At RISD she developed a love for the tactile and hand-made. Her senior film “Undone” got the attention of Curious Pictures in NYC, and she was added to their roster of directors shortly after graduating. “Undone” went on to screen in festivals around the world and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short at Slamdance in 2009. Hayley has been featured in Boards Magazine’s “Directors to Watch” issue and SHOOT Magazine’s “New Directors Showcase.” She has been bringing her unique style to commercials and music videos, and is in the process of developing a new short film.

Emily Collins has created and collaborated on music videos, plays, sculptures and illustrations. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Sculpture in Matera, Italy, Anthology Film Archives, The Children’s Museum of the Arts, etc. On a regular basis, she works as a teaching artist at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, where she brings animation to young people throughout New York City. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 with a degree in Film/Animation/Video.

Screening of TV’s “Oddities” followed by after party with MC Lord Whimsy, giveaways, special drinks, and DJ
Date: Saturday, December 17th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $8
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

On Saturday, December 17th, you are cordially invited to join Morbid Anatomy and Observatory as we gather to celebrate the new season launch of “Oddities,” that unlikely hit of a television series based on our favorite purveyor of curious and amazing artifacts, Obscura Antiques and Oddities in New York City’s East village.

The evenings festivities will include the screening of several new episodes of “Oddities,” special drinks and music by Friese Undine, and give-ways by Kikkerland and Obscura Antiques. The always charming Lord Whimsy will oversee the evening in his role of Master of Ceremonies, and members of the cast of “Oddities” will be on hand for questions and comments.

To find out more about the show, check out http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/oddities.

Hope very much to see you there!

Lecture and Studio Art Class with artist Laura Splan
Date: Sunday, January 8th
Time: 1-4 PM
Fee: $60
*** Class size is limited to 20; please RSVP to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com

This class will survey the use of dissection in contemporary art practice through an illustrated lecture, discussion and collaborative art project. We will examine the conceptual and cultural significance of cutting, excavating, disassembling, labeling, observing and displaying “bodies.” The lecture will present a brief history of dissection as well as work by contemporary artists exploring imagery, tropes and methods of dissection. The collaborative project will be a fun and lively hands on exploration of the meaning of dissection in a work of art. Participants should bring an object, artifact or specimen to “dissect” for the group exercise. Additional supplies, tools and materials will be provided. No prior art training is required.

Laura Splan is a Brooklyn based visual artist. Her mixed media work explores historical and cultural ambivalence towards the human body. She was recently a Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University where she taught “Art and Biology” in the Art & Art History Department. She has been a Visiting Artist at the New York Academy of Sciences, California College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Cal Arts.  She curates the visual portal DomesticatedViscera.com. Images of her artwork can be found on her website: LauraSplan.com.

You can contact Laura through her website with any questions about the class by clicking here.

Infant Draped Over Mother’s Lap, Campbell, Jersey City, NJ, Daguerreotype, Circa 1854

Illustrated Lecture and book signing with Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS of the Burns Collection and Archive
Date: Monday, December 5th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
*** Books will be available for sale and signing; see bottom of this page for complete list of books available

Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until now, are special mementos that hold deep meaning for mourners through visually “embalming” the dead. Although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely unseen and unknown. Dr. Burns recognized the importance of this phenomenon in his early collecting when he bought his first postmortem photographs in 1976. Since that time he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of postmortem photography in the world and has curated several exhibits and published three books on the subject: the Sleeping Beauty series. Tonight, Dr. Burns will speak about the practice of postmortem photography from the 19th century until today and share hundreds of images from his collection.

About Sleeping Beauty: Dr. Burns’ first book on postmortem photography, Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America (1990) has been widely recognized as one of the most important photography books of all time. Sleeping Beauty has influenced an eclectic array of fields, from bereavement counseling and education to cultural anthropology, history, medicine, philosophy, religion and spirituality (not to mention pop music) and has been cited in debates on the death penalty, euthanasia and abortion. It has been the subject of numerous scholarly papers as well as seminars and exhibitions at notable institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The New Museum of Contemporary Art. A decade later the Archive published Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement & The Family in Memorial Photography American & European Traditions in conjunction with an exhibit at the Musée d’Orsay. Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children, the third installment in this series was released this year to accompany a traveling exhibition.

About the Burns Collection and Archive: The Burns Collection, founded in 1975 hosts the nation’s largest collection of early medical photography and has been generally recognized as one the most important private comprehensive collections of early photography (over one million photographs). The Collection is best known for images of the dark side of life: death, disease, disaster, mayhem, crime, racism, revolution, riots and war. Dr. Burns has authored forty-three photo-historical texts and curated more than fifty photographic exhibitions. He is a founding donor of several museum photography collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum and The Bronx Museum of the Arts. In addition to being an internationally distinguished author, curator, historian, collector, publisher, and archivist, Dr. Burns is a New York City ophthalmologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. The Burns Archive produces publications, exhibitions, and manages image licensing for the Burns Collection. To find out more, you can visit the Burns Archive Blog, website, or press website.

These Burns Archive titles will be available for sale and signing:
Sleeping Beauty III Memorial Photography: The Children $36
Sleeping Beauty II: Grief, Bereavement & The Family in Memorial Photography… $85
Shooting Soldiers: Civil War Medical Photography by R.B. Bontecou $50
News Art: Manipulated Photographs from the Burns Archive $50
Deadly Intent, Crime & Punishment: Photographs from the Burns Archive $75
Seeing Insanity: Photography & The Depiction of Mental Illness $40

CANCELLED; Stay tuned for new date
Time: 1-4 PM
Admission: $65
*** Please RSVP at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com

In today’s class, learn the mummification process as described in the “Egyptian Book of the Dead” (Book of Coming Forth By Day). Instructor Sorceress Cagliastro will guide students in the use of the traditional materials–such as natron salts, canopic jars, oils and herbs, dried flowers and linen or gauze wraps–and traditional ritual–such as ritual of the opening of the mouth–in the creation of an authentic and perfectly respected animal mummy. Each student will leave class with an animal mummy of their own making.

Please note: No animals are harmed or killed for this class; the materials are found already deceased, obtained either from a food service such as a meat market that serves a clientele seeking intact animals, or from a pet feeder supply.

Sorceress Cagliastro has a background as a teacher, author, and forensic reconstructionist. She worked as a trade embalmer and spent many years of work at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.

A plaque commemorating Granny-dump Mountain in the northern Japan town of Tono. (Photo by Justin Nobel)

Illustrated lecture by Journalist Justin Nobel
Date: Thursday, January 26th
Time: 8:00
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

When elders in rural Japan reached age 70–or so an ancient legend would have it–their sons would carry them to the top of a holy mountain and leave them to die of exposure and starvation. Granny-dump mountain, or obasute-yama, was seen as a way to trim the population and make way for the next generation in cold mountain villages where food was short and winter was long. It is referenced by the obscure eleventh century diarist Lady Sarashina, master haiku poet Matsuo Basho and a 1983 Palme d’Or winning film, yet most anthropologists doubt the practice ever actually existed.

Intrigued by this story, journalist Justin Nobel took to the road to see if he could get to the bottom of this enigmatic legend. His travels ultimately led him to a tiny town in northern Japan haunted by cannibalistic mountain men and shape shifting sprites. After scouring the countryside for clues he came to a shocking conclusion: the legend was very much alive, right in the heart of Tokyo.

Tonight join Morbid Anatomy and Justin Nobel to hear the story of his search for the elusive Granny-Dump Mountain.

Justin Nobel is a freelance journalist. His writing has appeared in TIME, Popular Mechanics, Audubon, Guernica and Meatpaper. His essay, The Last Inuit of Quebec, was recently included in Best American Travel Writing 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). He pens a blog called Digital Dying for the funeral information website funeralwise.com and another called the Absurd Adventurer where he sits for hours in one New York City spot. He lives in Blissville.

Film by James Bell and music by Paul Deuth (a.k.a. Meteorologeist)
Runtime approx 1 hr.
Date: Saturday, November 19th
Time: 8:00 PM
Admission: $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

“No Computer Is An Island” is a silent movie animated entirely in PowerPoint and accompanied by electronic music, mixed live during the presentation. Utilizing inventive music and limited animation presets, a depressing world of office life, shallow relationships and adult responsibility is presented in 256 colors. The presentation follows a day in the life of one workflow shape, appropriately named Bubbles, as he goes about the business of being a detached thought bubble. Other workflow characters overlap and interrupt his story, creating images that exploit the constraints of PowerPoint as an animation tool by using the conventions of silent film. “No Computer Is An Island” engages the timeless need for narrative, inviting the viewer to create meaning slide by slide.

James E. P. Bell regularly makes PowerPoint presentations in an office building in midtown Manhattan. A founding member of the interactive performance group PowerPoint, James has explored the aesthetic potential of MicroSoft Office applications in productions such as “Introduction to Change Management” (1999), “Violence in the Workplace” (2003), and now “No Computer Is An Island” (2010).

Paul Deuth is an electronic musician/composer/producer (A.K.A. Meteorologeist) and director of photography. With an extensive career in television, Paul most enjoys expressing himself in multi-media artistic ventures including projects with PowerPoint, Fire and Ice, Hold Please, and the Prospects. You can experience some of Paul’s music at http://www.myspace.com/meteorologeist

Date: Tuesday, November 29th
Time: 7 PM-11 PM
Admission: $60
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
***MUST RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com; Class size limited to 15

Anthropomorphic taxidermy–the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities–was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces–which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party–in his own museum of curiosities.

On Tuesday November 29th, please join Morbid Anatomy and taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven for a beginners class in anthropomorphic taxidermy. All materials–including a mouse for each student–will be provided, and each class member will leave at the end of the day with their own anthropomorphic taxidermied mouse. Students are invited to bring any miniature items with which they might like to dress or decorate their new friend; some props and miniature clothing will also be provided by the teacher. A wide variety of sizes and colors of mice will be available.

No former taxidermy experience is required.

Also, some technical notes:

• We use NO harsh or dangerous chemicals.
• Everyone will be provided with gloves.
• All animals are disease free.
• Although there will not be a lot of blood or gore, a strong constitution is necessary; taxidermy is not for everyone.
• All animals were already dead, nothing was killed for this class. All mice used are feeder animals for snakes and lizards and would literally be discarded if not sold.
• Please do not bring any dead animals with you to the clas

You can contact Sue with any more questions by clicking here.