Event: Morbid Anatomy Museum

The Morbid Anatomy Museum, a treasure trove of pathological and funereal curiosities, antique medical models, and anatomical art pledged to "exploring the intersections of death, beauty, and that which falls between the cracks," has opened its doors to the public in Gowanus, Brooklyn thanks to a successful KickStarter campaign.

The Morbid Anatomy Museum is like a carnival sideshow right in the heart of Brooklyn.  I know, I know.  You thought that job was already taken by Williamsburg, but that was before all the punks and goths got repackaged like Apple products into hipsters.  Morbid Anatomy will be home to Joanna Ebenstein's well-curated collection of anatomical, medical, and religious oddities as well as a vast library.

If you can't make it in person, you can still check out their store at BigCartel, their blog on BlogSpot.  You can read more about their exhibits online at the Gothamist, The New York Times, United Academics Journal of Social Sciences, and The  WallStreet Journal.  Be warned, however, that many of their pieces are fairly gruesome and not for the eyes of those with delicate constitutions.

In 2007, artist Joanna Ebenstein created Morbid Anatomy, a website dedicated to "surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture." By 2008, Ebenstein's website had evolved from a passel of pixels into a tangible collection: The Morbid Anatomy Library, which ultimately grew to comprise over 2,000 trinkets, tomes, artifacts, photographs, and peculiarities as a project-in-residence of Proteus Gowanus.

Over the next few years, the Morbid Anatomy empire continued to expand: First came Morbid Anatomy Presents, a series of illustrated talks from academics and autodidacts on topics ranging from the Victorian fear of premature burial and existential mathematics to DIY wet specimen preservation and insect shadowboxes. Next up was Morbid Anatomy Art Academy, a convocation of classes designed to imbue local citizens with arcane knowledge as well as fine art instruction. MAAA also offers students the opportunity to take a hands-on approach to taxidermy, as its consistently sold-out workshops tutor participants in the age-old practice of animal preservation from Anthropomorphic Mouse to Traditionally Wrapped Quail.

After a half-dozen years at Proteus and a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that led to the April 2014 publication of a 500-page, full-color hardbound book titled The Morbid Anatomy Anthology, it was clear that the Morbid Anatomy Library had begun to outgrow its 300-square-foot canal-side home. To that end, a new campaign was created, and in just over a month, 1,557 supporters funded the proposed expansion and then some.

Now occupying three stories on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 7th Street, the new and improved Morbid Anatomy Museum features 4,200 square feet of permanent and traveling exhibitions, a cafe, a 2,500 volume reference library, a lecture hall, and a gift shop. Its first public exhibition was co-curated by Ebenstein and Evan Michelson, co-owner of Manhattan's Obscura Antiques, star of the Science Channel's reality/documentary show Oddities, and Morbid Anatomy Library's current Scholar-in-Residence. Titled "The Art of Mourning," the exhibition runs through Thursday, December 4.

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