Name: Library Tour
Location: Wellcome Collection

Join us for a quick cup of coffee and a pastry, afternoon tea, or a light meal with a glass of wine.

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Café

Gallery tour

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Daily Guided Tours and Discussions

Come and browse a selection of our quirky gifts and books.

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Shop

Enjoy delicious lunches, drinks and afternoon tea on level 2.

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Restaurant

Join us to celebrate ageing and reflect on illness through a programme of performances, screenings and discussions about what defines a healthy body. 

On Saturday, take part in a programme of events including stand-up comedy, singing from St Christopher’s Hospice Community Choir, screening of artists’ films and a discussion of the themes in the exhibition. Join artists, theorists and academics who will discuss embodying contemporary Black creativity. Join us to celebrate the late Jo Spence’s birthday with cake and a fresh look at what it means to get older.

On Sunday, join a writing workshop or drop in to a film screening that delves into how illness shapes our identities. 

Festival

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Jo Spence, from the series, Phototherapy - Infantilization. 1984-86. Collaboration with Rosy Martin. Wellcome Collection

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This is a large-scale event with several different activities. Check specific sub-events for their locations.

Throughout the building

This is a large-scale event with several different activities, which may include drop-in sessions, scheduled performances, workshops or talks. Check specific activities for details and to see if you need to book a ticket or to just show up. Spaces for drop-in activities are first come, first served and may run out if we are busy. If you have any special requests or requirements, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Multi-part programme

Join us to celebrate ageing and reflect on illness through a programme of performances, screenings and discussions about what defines a healthy body.

Beyond the Perfect Image

See a selection of magic tricks performed by past participants from Breathe Magic, a fun and effective programme to improve physical and mental health. Then discover how conjuring is working real-life magic by transforming lives. 

<p>A performance taking place as part of an exhibition, live in the gallery space.</p>

In-Gallery Performance

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Live performance event at Wellcome Collection

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We’ll be in Gallery 1. When you enter Wellcome Collection, it’s on the left on level 0.    

Gallery 1

Spaces are limited and we recommend arriving early as these events are particularly likely to be busy. If we’re full, we will ask you to queue outside the gallery to avoid overcrowding in the exhibition space. Only people in the exhibition space will be able to attend the event. If queuing is not accessible for you, please speak to a member of staff. If you have any access requests or requirements, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Queuing likely

See a selection of magic tricks performed by past participants from Breathe Magic, a fun and effective programme to improve physical and mental health. Then discover how conjuring is working real-life magic by transforming lives.

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Smoke and Mirrors magic show by Will Houstoun

Experience magic in the Smoke and Mirrors gallery with live performances exploring perception, deception and the ‘supernatural’.

Smoke and Mirrors Live Performances

Performance from Breathe Magic

14 to 19-year-olds

Join us for a workshop inspired by the Smoke and Mirrors exhibition where you’ll discover your inner magician, learn tricks and develop your confidence. From vanishing pens to magic lights, you will find out how magicians use misdirection, showmanship and psychology to trick their audience, and have a go yourself. 

Abracademy is a learning and development company who use magic as a tool to support personal development.

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Abracademy

Abracademy website

Facilitator

Workshop

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Saturday Studio workshop

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We’ll be in the Studio on level 1. When you enter Wellcome Collection, head up the stairs or take the lift, then follow the signs. 

The Studio

Each workshop has 25 spaces available and you can sign up from 13:30 in the Studio. Places are given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you’re visiting the museum with a parent, guardian or support worker, they are welcome to drop you off at our Studio. If you’d like someone to support you during the session, just let us know in advance of the session or on the day.

Saturday Studio sign-up

Join us for a workshop to discover your inner magician, learn tricks and develop your confidence.

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Take part in our interactive weekend workshops for people aged 14 to 19. You’ll get to develop skills in photography, dance, digital journalism and more.

Saturday Studio

Inner Magic

What role does design play in the mistakes we make? Join human factors researcher Dominic Furniss to learn about his work to reduce human error through better design and procedures, from everyday things to hospitals and chemical plants.

Please note that this event is taking place in the Reading Room, so food and drink will need to be enjoyed elsewhere before or after the event.

Dominic Furniss is a human factors researcher who is especially interested in usability and design, and human reliability and adaptation.

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Dominic Furniss

Speaker

Discussion

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Packed Lunch discussion in the Forum

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We’ll be in the Reading Room on level 2. You can walk up the spiral staircase to the Reading Room door, or take the lift up and then head left from the Library Desk.

Reading Room

Spaces are first come, first served and may run out if we are busy so you may wish to arrive early. If you have any access requests or requirements, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Limited spaces available

Join human factors researcher Dominic Furniss to learn about his work to reduce human error through better design and procedures.

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Packed Lunch event in the Forum

At every Packed Lunch, you’ll get an opportunity to hear from a local scientist in conversation with a Wellcome facilitator about their current research. We then invite you to ask your own questions and share your thoughts. Sit back and listen or contribute – it’s up to you.

Packed Lunch

Design Errors

Step into the unknown and take part in activities that include discussions on germs, the healing power of words, and dating in the digital world.

These events are part of Open Platform, where you are invited to run your own events sharing ideas inspired by the themes in the Reading Room.

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Unexpected Interludes workshop

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Step into the unknown and take part in activities that include drawing, discussion, creative problem-solving and singing.

Unexpected Interludes

Join Becky for a BSL-interpreted tour of the Smoke and Mirrors exhibition and take a closer look at the histories, mysteries and misconceptions that surround magic in Western culture. Explore the psychology behind our susceptibility to deception and why magic continues to fascinate.

Becky, your tour guide, will be joined by Michelle, a qualified British Sign Language Interpreter.

Everyone will meet at the information point on Level 0 before the tour in Gallery 1.

Becky is a Visitor Experience Assistant bringing Wellcome Collection's objects and themes to life for visitors through a range of activities. She is particularly interested in highlighting legacies of colonialism and exploring how people have expressed their identities throughout history.

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Becky Buckman

Guide

Michelle has been a qualified British Sign Language Interpreter for 15 years and has been working with the Wellcome Collection for the last 5 years. She loves being a small part of the team who ensure that the Deaf Community are able to access what, in her view, is one of the best places in London.

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Michelle Wood

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Smoke and Mirrors exhibition

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This event will have British Sign Language interpretation. If you would like to come along, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

This event is in British Sign Language. For any assistance, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

British Sign Language

We’ll meet at the Information Point, which is on level 0, directly in front of you as you enter Wellcome Collection.

Information Point

Join Becky for BSL-interpreted tour of the Smoke and Mirrors exhibition and take a closer look at the histories, mysteries and misconceptions that surround magic in Western culture.

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We regularly run tours of our exhibitions for visitors with access needs: British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted, audio described (AD) and speech-to-text (STT) tours.

Access Tours and Discussions

BSL Tour of Smoke and Mirrors

Experience a unique form of conjuring combining sleight-of-hand with British Sign Language performed by Goldie Puricelli, then find out about about the challenge of combining covert manipulation with using her hands to sign. 

Goldie Puricelli is a professional magician, Member of the Magic Circle and dyslexia specialist who develops full access to magic for communities with additional needs. She performs close-up magic in English, Italian and with British Sign Language for the deaf community, and has worked with people with dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism for 25 years. 

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Goldie Puricelli

Goldie Puricelli’s LinkedIn page

Performer

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Experience a unique form of conjuring combining sleight-of-hand with British Sign Language performed by Goldie Puricelli, then find out about about the challenge of combining covert manipulation with using her hands to sign.

Performance by Goldie Puricelli

Discover the works of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery in this audio-described tour of the Misbehaving Bodies exhibition. Through photography and video, these artists explore the politics of the body, living with chronic illness, and alternative medicine. 

Your tour guide, Rob Bidder, is trained in audio description by VocalEyes and has designed his tour for visitors who are blind or partially sighted.

Everyone will meet at the information point on Level 0 before the tour in Gallery 2.

Rob Bidder is an artist based in south-east London and a Visitor Experience Assistant at Wellcome Collection. He also plays music in a ramshackle manner. He is a Gemini with a Libra ascendant.

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Rob Bidder

@robertbidder

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Access tour at Wellcome Collection

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This event will be audio described for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. Places are free but very limited. If you would like to come along, email access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

This event is audio described for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. For any assistance, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

Audio described

Discover the works of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery in this audio-described tour of the Misbehaving Bodies exhibition.

AD Tour of Misbehaving Bodies

Explore the science behind magicians’ force with Alice Pailhes of the Goldsmiths MAGIC Lab. You’ll discover the psychological principles that allow magicians to manipulate your sense of agency and free will. 

Performance by Alice Pailhes

Take a journey into the “Golden Age” of magic: Discover how, at the end of the 19th century, conjuring was at the pinnacle of popular entertainment and magicians were amongst the world’s biggest stars. Will Houstoun, who has a PhD in Victorian conjuring, will explore why the Golden Age began and how it impacts magic, to this day. You will also get to see an authentic piece of Victorian magic, and discover whether it is as baffling today as it was a century and a half ago.

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Take a journey into the “Golden Age” of magic with Will Houstoun, and explore why the Golden Age began and how it impacts magic, to this day. You will get to see an authentic piece of Victorian magic, and discover whether it is as baffling today as it was a century and a half ago.

Performance by Dr Will Houstoun

Join a workshop where you’ll get creative with words, try out spoken-word techniques and have the opportunity to perform. You will play with metaphor, free writing and understand how to keep developing your own ideas after you leave. 

This Saturday Studio is open to everyone, whether you’ve tried spoken word before or are completely new to it.  

Gabriel Akamo is a Nigerian-British poet, actor, facilitator and creative producer. He is a Barbican Young Poet alumnus and has worked and performed throughout London, the UK and internationally, in spaces ranging from the Royal Academy of Arts and St Paul’s Cathedral to venues in Riga, Latvia. He is inspired by philosophy, faith, family and identity – all of which feature massively in his writing. 

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Gabriel Akamo

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Join a workshop where you’ll get creative with words, try out spoken-word techniques and have the opportunity to perform.

Spoken Word Lab

Be astonished by a magic performance by body language expert Richard McDougall, then learn about some of the techniques magicians can use to control one of the most valuable commodities in the world: your attention.

Performance by Richard McDougall

Celebrate wonder, exploration and innovation with Dr Matt Pritchard, “The Science Magician”. This show features a host of everyday objects behaving in strange counter-intuitive ways; tricks you can go away and try yourself.

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Performance by Dr Matt Pritchard

Watch exquisite sleight-of-hand conjuring with Michael Vincent, who will also explain his personal journey of reinvention as a deaf magician.

The sessions on Thursday 1st August will be BSL interpreted by Sula Gleeson. 

Michael Vincent has won the Magic Circle Close-Up Magician of the Year three times and was named Close-Up Magician of the Year by the International Association of Black Magicians in 2016. Five years ago he woke up in a world of silence, having completely lost his hearing. 

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Michael Vincent

Michael Vincent’s website

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Watch exquisite sleight-of-hand conjuring with Michael Vincent, who will also explain his personal journey of reinvention as a deaf magician. The sessions on 1st August will be BSL interpreted by Sula Gleeson.

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