Death: A Graveside Companion

The creative director of the  Morbid Anatomy Museum explores the intersections of art and death.

Death is an inevitable fact of life. Our foreknowledge of it may even be the root the human condition. In Death: A Graveside Companion, Joanna Ebenstein, co-founder and creative director of Brooklyn's recently shuttered Morbid Anatomy Museum, explores the variety of ways—metaphysical, mythological, scientific, and popular—by which humankind has sought over the centuries to imagine and understand the great mystery of our mortality. 

Today many people consider it distasteful to contemplate death and its representation. But this was not always the case. How could we have changed so greatly over the past 150 years that these images look so strange to us today? What can we learn about both the past and the present by looking at them? And what can they tell us about humanity’s changing relationship to death? 

Ebenstein will present a selection of morbid imagery from throughout history, followed by a conversation with Jennifer Wright, author of Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them. Q&A will follow.

FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED
For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released 15 minutes before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A stand by line will form one hour before the program.

The Programming Room opens at 6 PM.