Name: Death Café
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

Come and see this new installation, inspired by climate change and the ‘Being Human‘ gallery. The installation is the result of a climate-change project by the RawMinds Ambassadors, who advise us on events for young people. The Ambassadors wanted to create a record of their exploration of the gallery.

“When we explored the new ‘Being Human’ gallery upstairs, we wanted to think about what that means for us, now and in the future. We were awakened by the theme of climate breakdown, so we worked with artists to create this film and artwork.”

The installation consists of a film by James Skerritt and an artwork by Frankie Strand, in collaboration with the RawMinds Ambassadors.

The film is a behind-the-scenes exploration of three key objects from the gallery:

'The World Under Pressure' by Batoul S’Himi

Wellcome Collection RawMinds is a programme for young people aged 14 to 19. 

Take a look at this playlist of three video interviews by the RawMinds ambassadors with artists whose work is on display in 'Being Human'.

Frankie Strand is an illustrator and wall artist with a background in street art. Her artwork ranges from small intricate pencil drawings to large-scale paintings that span entire buildings. She is hugely inspired by natural forms, plant life and the animal kingdom. 

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Frankie Strand

Frankie Strand’s website

Artist

James Skerritt is an Irish director and director of photography working between narrative, documentary, and fashion. He is passionate about the ocean, awkward moments and good coffee.

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James Skerritt

James Skerritt’s website

Creator

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Our Future of Being Human?

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We’ll be in the Atrium, which is just inside the entrance to Wellcome Collection on level 0.

The Atrium

Just turn up to this event. There's usually room for everyone.

Drop in at any time

Come and see the new installation in our Atrium, inspired by climate change and the ‘Being Human’ gallery.

When Apollo 11 landed in July 1968, the first two people on the moon were able to look back to earth from space. Join us for a weekend of activities, performances and discussion highlighting some of the experiences that impact the health of travellers looking back at their homelands from afar.

You can also drop into the Being Human gallery and discover ‘Refugee Astronaut III’ by Yinka Shonibare. This artwork features a figure in an elaborate spacesuit with a hastily gathered net of possessions. You can reflect on who they are and what has caused their hurried flight. 

These events are part of Bloomsbury Festival and you can see the rest of the programme on their website. 

Festival

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MAPS by Sivan Rubinstein

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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 for a weekend of activities, performances and discussions inspired by the anniversary of the 1968 moon landings, highlighting effects on the health of travellers looking back at their homelands from afar.

A Moon with a View

Look at highlights from the ‘Misbehaving Bodies’ exhibition accompanied by British Sign Language (BSL) guide Golda Dahan. You’ll hear her personal views and insights into the exhibition and have an opportunity to ask questions.

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

Golda Dahan is a freelance artist who delivers BSL tours, and choreographs and leads dance and drama workshops for deaf children and adults with disabilities. Previously, Golda worked as a semi-professional ballet dancer with a group in Israel that incorporated both deaf and hearing dancers and toured in Europe.

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Golda Dahan

Guide

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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

Enjoy highlights from the ‘Misbehaving Bodies’ exhibition accompanied by British Sign Language (BSL) guide Golda Dahan.

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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 Misbehaving Bodies

King Henry VIII is well-known for both his sporting prowess as a young man, as well as his later deterioration, weight gain, and poor health. Hear author Robert Hutchinson bring new light to the question of Henry VIII’s dramatic change in health and how this influenced his behaviour and actions. Taking a keen interest in his own treatment, Henry VIII helped the medical profession develop during his reign. There will be relevant rare material on display as part of the event. 

There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. 

Robert Hutchinson, OBE FSA, is a British historian from Arundel specialised in the history of the Reformation, especially church archeology.

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Robert Hutchinson

Speaker

Discussion

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Dr Robert Hutchinson

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We’ll be in the Viewing Room. It’s next to the Library entrance on level 2, which you can reach by taking the lift or the stairs.

Viewing Room

Booking a ticket for a free event does not guarantee a place on the day. Doors usually open 15 minutes before an event starts and we advise arriving before the scheduled start time to claim a place. We hold some spaces for people with access requirements. If you have any access requests or requirements, email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 020 7611 2222.

First come, first served

Hear author Robert Hutchinson bring new light to the question of Henry VIII’s dramatic change in health.

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Insights sessions give you an introductory taste of what our Library can offer you as a browser, explorer or researcher, while showcasing rare items.

Library Insights

The Decline of Henry VIII

14 to 19-year-olds

Join a workshop where you’ll discover how you can use augmented reality (AR) via a trip to the moon. 

You can plan a trip to the moon or imagine a lunar place for people to live. Capture 3D scans, explore objects left on the moon and create a lunar museum. 

Find out how your imagination and AR tools can help make your vision of the future visible to others. 

Workshop

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Saturday Studio augmented reality on the moon

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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 a workshop where you’ll discover how you can use augmented reality by imagining a trip to the moon.

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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

Augmented Reality on the Moon

Come and hear Dr Richard Williams discuss his research on music and sound in Mughal India. Examining a series of Hindi manuscripts in the Wellcome Collection – from poetry treatises to divination manuals – he will ask what it means to listen to silent archives, and explore what we can learn about Mughal conceptions of sound and listening.

Following our speaker’s presentation, there will be an opportunity to discuss his ideas.

Dr Richard Williams is Lecturer in Ethnomusicology in the School of Arts at SOAS University of London. He is currently finalising his first monograph, on the circulation of musicians, genres and musicologists between upper India and Bengal between c.1750 and 1900. In connection to this project, he has written on Bengali-language musicology, the performance repertoires of courtesans, and sound arts in Shi’ah Islam.

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Richard Williams

Seminar

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Dr Richard Williams

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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

Come and hear Dr Richard Williams discuss his research on music and sound in Mughal India.

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Researcher talk in the Viewing Room

Hear about some of the latest projects that explore materials from our collections, ask questions and take inspiration for your own research.

Exploring Research

Listening to Hindi Manuscripts

Drop in to a writing workshop on illness and dying. Nichola Charalambou, Director of Creative Writes, will guide you through the process and provide time for feedback and discussion.

Nichola Charalambou is the founder of Creative Writes – creative writing workshops for adults in London.  She works with writers at all levels and uses free flow writing as a foundation. Groups are small, supportive, motivational and tailor-made. Creative Writes is celebrating 10 years in 2019!

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Nichola Charalambou

Facilitator

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Misbehaving Bodies event

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We’ll be in Gallery 2. To get there, go up the stairs or take the lift to level 1.

Gallery 2

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Misbehaving Bodies Drop-in Workshop

Join artists and writers in the Misbehaving Bodies exhibition for participatory workshops, and reflect on illness, grief, healing and death.

Misbehaving Bodies Drop-in Workshops

Writing Workshop

Hear about the Egyptian Society, the first of its kind, which emerged during the 18th century as interest in antiquarian study peaked. Using correspondence held in Wellcome Collection, Professor Anna Marie Roos will argue that the society can be seen as much more than the drinking club it is sometimes portrayed as, but rather as a group that promoted the development of early archaeology and early modern antiquarianism.

Following presentations from our speaker, there will be an opportunity to discuss her ideas.

Professor Anna Marie Roos is Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, University of Lincoln, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. She publishes not only as a professional historian but also as an advisor to taxonomists. Her scientific and historical work has been featured in Nature News, Wellcome History, the Guardian and the New York Times, and has received the John Thackray Medal.

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Anna Marie Roos

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Professor Anna Marie Roos

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Hear about the Egyptian Society, the first of its kind, which emerged during the 18th century as interest in antiquarian study peaked.

The First Antiquarian Egyptian Society

Drop in and take a seat at the Long Table, where you can join the discussion to talk about approaches and attitudes towards self-care and collective care. You’ll be able to raise issues such as:

Is more self-care needed in the art world?

At the Long Table, conversation is the only course, but there can be silence. It’s a democracy, so no one will moderate you, but a host may assist you. Feel free to write on the tablecloth.

If you leave the table you can come back again and again.

Your host for the evening will be Lois Weaver, who devised the Long Table format. She will explain the etiquette at the start of the discussion.

Several other artists and practitioners will join you as collaborators at the Long Table discussion.

Lois Weaver is an artist, activist and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London.

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Lois Weaver

Host

Oreet Ashery (b.1966 Jerusalem) is a UK-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes time-based image, performance, text, sound and music. In 2017, Ashery won the 10th Film London Jarman Award, and her work has been exhibited and performed all over the world. She is currently an associate professor of Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. 

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Christa Holka, 2016.

Oreet Ashery

Website: Oreet Ashery

Collaborator

Raju Rage is an interdisciplinary artist who is proactive about using art, education and activism to forge creative survival. Based in London, they primarily use their non-conforming body as a vehicle of embodied knowledge. They work in performance, sculpture, soundscapes and moving image, focusing on techniques of resistance and utilising everyday life experiences in communicating narratives around gender, race and culture, health and wellbeing.

Raju Rage

Dr Vanda Playford has worked as an inner-city GP in London for over 30 years. In parallel, she has developed an art practice based primarily in photography and video. She completed a PhD in Fine Art at the RCA in 2005, where she researched the nature of the medical consultation in relation to ritual, symptom and storytelling.

Dr Vanda Playford

Rehana Zaman is an artist based in London. She works predominantly with moving image to examine how social dynamics are produced and performed.  Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include Serpentine Projects London 2019, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018, India, Liverpool Biennial 2018, CCA, Glasgow 2018 and Material Art Fair IV, Mexico City 2017.

Rehana Zaman

Hannah Catherine Jones (aka Foxy Moron) is a London-based artist, scholar, multi-instrumentalist, radio presenter and DJ, composer, conductor and founder of Peckham Chamber Orchestra (a community project). Jones is a DPhil scholar at Oxford University (Ruskin School of Art/Christ Church) producing an ongoing body of audiovisual work, The Oweds.

Hannah Catherine Jones

Take a seat at the Long Table, where you can join the discussion to talk about approaches and attitudes towards self-care and collective care.

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