MAMA MAMASEN

Skildringer af dansk psykiatri har ofte haft karakter af politiske indlæg. Psykiatriens udvikling er enten blevet beskrevet som en historie om fremskridt og store forbedringer for de sindslidende eller som et disciplinerende system, der ikke var til gavn for de psykiatriske patienter. Især i 1970’erne var modsætningerne udtalte, og over det meste af den vestlige […]

Yesterday the acclaimed director, stage designer, performer, writer, furniture designer and draftsman, Robert Wilson gave a presidential lecture at Stanford University. With equal parts performance, show and lecture Wilson told about his life and his art: ‘My theater is, in some ways, really closer to animal behavior. When a however stalks a bird his whole body is […]

One of the advantages of being a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University is the opportunity to get closer to another culture. Myriad of minor and major differences are emerging to the surface, in everyday rhetoric and actions. One interesting difference between American and Danish culture is, for example, the relationship to cosmetic surgery. The industry is […]

Last month I got the opportunity to visit the recognized Monterey Bay Aquarium on the West Coast of California. My family (husband, two kids, 7 and 10 and my niece, 17) spent an entire day learning and enjoying about the animal life in the sea. The variety of displays and activities were overwhelming, the size […]

Insufficient, ill-suited and overfilled storage rooms are probably the painstaking reality for many cultural history museums. At the Medical Museion, we are certainly waging an ongoing battle to resolve the problems destined to arise from ambitious acquisition activities and a very limited number of square meters of storage space. Most of the time, conservators Ion […]

In an earlier post Thomas wrote that the CT scanner could seem anonymous for the superficial view. No immediate presence effects. But a closer look revealed that this was certainly not the case. The same could be said about the MRI scanner: ‘No immediate presence effects’. But also in this case a closer look will reveal that the MRI scanner has a lot […]

On Friday, June 13 2008 (2:00 – 5:00 pm) Dr Andrea Tone will talk about “The Age of Anxiety: A History of America’s Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers” at Medical Museion in Copenhagen. Here is the abstract of Andrea’s talk: “In the last 50 years, we have increasingly turned to a pharmaceutical solution for the problem […]

The annual clean-out day at the Panum Institute, which houses the Medical Faculty of the University of Copenhagen, took place last week. With the sun shining from at clear blue sky and temperatures rising to the high twenties, employees at the Panum Institute went on a building-wide cleaning spree. And just like last year, Medical […]

As previously reported on this blog, Medical Museion set up a very temporary exhibition at the Bella Center congress center in Copenhagen this weekend. The occasion was the annual meeting of ESA, the Europan Society for Anesthesiology, and the exhibition focussed on the events, outcomes and legacies of a few very dynamic years in anesthesiology in […]

Susan Squier, Penn State University, will discuss work in progress for her new book in a seminar at Medical Museion on 29 May, 10:00-12:00. Her previous books include “Liminal lives: Imaginations of the Human in Biomedicine”, “Playing Dolly”, “Babies in Bottles”.  Location: Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, Fredericiagade 18, 1310 København. Everyone is welcome. For more information, please contact Susanne […]

”BODIES – THE EXHIBITION” [sorry, BODIES – REVEALED, cf. comment below] has arrived in Copenhagen, with the ensuing marketing push and massive media attention. The exhibition, which shows plastinated bodies and body parts, opened on 18 April in the H.C. Andersen Castle in Tivoli where the usual wax figures have been switched with real dead Chinese bodies. […]

What role do the senses have in contemporary medicine and how can museums that wish to exhibit the material and visual world of biomedicine make use of sensorial approaches? These are questions that touch upon epistemological and phenomenological questions as well as matters of display and pedagogy. In order to find intellectual inspiration and sharpen […]