Science Museum Group Journal
The Science Museum Group Journal presents the global research community with peer-reviewed papers relevant to the wide-ranging work of the Science Museum Group. The Journal freely shares the research of five national UK museums and warmly invites contributions that resonate with their collections and practice.
14 CURRENT ISSUE Curating Medicine - Issue 14
Sarah Wade guest edits this special issue, which charts examples of curating medicine from the perspective of practitioners themselves. Brenda Malone discusses a Rapid Response Collecting project to capture the material culture of the Irish Abortion Referendum, highlighting its role in generating new contemporary collecting strategies for the National Museum of Ireland. Ken Arnold and Danielle Olsen reflect on what they learned from the process of running Contagious Cities, a huge international project co-ordinated by the Wellcome Trust, and Manon Parry looks at evolving trends in the display of medicine, especially the treatment of contentious themes such as disability and decolonialism, in museums across Europe. The role of art in medicine exhibitions is discussed in depth here. George Vasey considers the role art can play in the presentation of uncomfortable themes such as illness and death, as he reflects on the Wellcome Trust’s Misbehaving Bodies exhibition. Katy Barrett interviews various artists connected to the Science Museum’s Medicine galleries while continuing to explore what it means to be an art curator in a science museum. Jörn Wolters presents the Journal’s first photo essay, which visually documents AIDS memorials since 1987, charting an evolution from informal grassroots projects to more formal, institutionally led approaches and making a case for their status as cultural heritage. Finally, in a co-authored paper the curators of the Science Museum’s new permanent exhibition – Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries – reflect on the main themes and questions that guided the exhibition development and consider what they learned for future displays.
Featured content
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Curating Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
The curators of Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries reflect on their experiences of creating these significant new displays at the Science Museum in London.
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Artist interviews – new art for Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
This article brings artistic and curatorial voices to reflect on the meaning of four major new art commissions in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries. Curator of Art Collections, Katy Barrett, talks with artists Eleanor Crook, Marc Quinn, and Studio Roso.
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Contagious Cities: an international collaborative enquiry
Contagious Cities explored infectious diseases in Geneva, New York, Hong Kong and Berlin through a variety of cultural programmes. We examine its outputs and outcomes, the complexities of working with multiple stakeholders, and what might be learned from its approach to partnership and commissioning.
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Flying Scotsman: modernity, nostalgia and Britain’s ‘cult of the past’
This article explores the rescue and restoration of the world famous steam locomotive Flying Scotsman in 1963 and explores wider questions about what it means to preserve cultural objects and how, if at all, their authenticity can be preserved.
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From the White Man’s Grave to the White Man’s Home? Experiencing ‘Tropical Africa’ at the 1924–25 British Empire Exhibition
This article analyses the exhibition and reception of Tropical Africa at the 1924–25 British Empire Exhibition, drawing attention to affect, the senses, and spatiality. It emphasises the need to look beyond curatorial intent and consider the multiplicity of potential experiences within World’s Fairs.
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New mobile experiences of vision and modern subjectivities in Late Victorian Britain
The article explores the new way of seeing enabled by cycling in relation to the experience and temporality of late nineteenth century modernity, questioning how this influenced photographers’ approach to the representation of what was, effectively, a modern, moving, gaze.