Wellcome Collection

Wellcome Collection
Location within Greater London
Established 2007
Location Euston Road
London, NW1
United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°31′33″N 0°08′02″W / 51.52582°N 0.13385°W / 51.52582; -0.13385Coordinates: 51°31′33″N 0°08′02″W / 51.52582°N 0.13385°W / 51.52582; -0.13385
Type Museum, library
Collections history of medicine
Visitors c. 750,000 per annum
Founder Henry Wellcome
Director Dr Simon Chaplin
Public transit access London Underground Euston Square
National Rail Euston
Website wellcomecollection.org

Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying an unusual mixture of medical artifacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art".[1] Founded in 2007, Wellcome Collection now attracts over 700,000 visitors per year[2] and is advertised as "the free destination for the incurably curious". The venue offers visitors contemporary and historic exhibitions and collections, lively public events, the world-renowned Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop and conference facilities.

History and development

Wellcome Museum staff, c. 1915. Unknown photographer. The Wellcome Collection, London
Hall of Statuary, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London, c. 1926. Unknown photographer. The Wellcome Collection, London

Wellcome Collection is part of the Wellcome Trust, founded by Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853–1936). An extensive and enthusiastic traveller, Henry Wellcome amassed a huge collection of books, paintings and objects, on the theme of historical development of medicine worldwide. There was an earlier Wellcome Historical Medical Museum at 54a Wigmore Street, housing artifacts from around the world.[3]

The Wellcome Trust moved its administrative offices into their new Gibbs Building (designed for the Trust by Michael Hopkins and Partners) on the adjoining site in Euston Road, completed 2004: thereby creating an opportunity for a new public venue in the old Wellcome Building. The collection opened to the public in June 2007.[4] Due to its historical holdings, the Wellcome Collection is a member of The London Museums of Health & Medicine group.[5]

Having been open since 2007, Wellcome Collection re-opened with additional public spaces in October 2015.[6]

Wellcome Library

Three leeches attend a grasshopper, prescribing a course of bloodletting, cartoon by Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gérard c.1832. Wellcome Library collections.

The Wellcome Library provides access to collections of books, manuscripts, archives, films and pictures on the history of medicine from the earliest times to the present day[7]

The Hub

Located on the 5th floor of the Collection, The Hub is a space for researchers and other creative minds to collaborate. The first residents of The Hub, Hubbub, are exploring the dynamics of "rest, noise, tumult, activity and work" from October 2014 to July 2016.[8] In October 2016 a group exploring dementia and the arts will begin their residency.[9]

The Reading Room

Refurbished in 2015 as part of the Wellcome Collection's 2015 renovation,[6] the Reading Room is an "innovative hybrid of gallery, library and events space" open to the public.

The collections

'Medicine Man' one of the galleries at Wellcome Collection, London
The first printout of the human genome to be presented as a series of books.

The collection is divided into several spaces. The "Medicine Man" area is a permanent display of a small part of Henry Wellcome's collection. "Medicine Now" is a permanent exhibition combining art, mixed media displays and objects to present some aspects of modern medicine and of the work of the Wellcome Trust. This area features a postcard wall where visitors are encouraged to contribute drawings.

The main exhibition space hosts a changing programme of events and exhibitions. The space has included work by Felicity Powell and Bobby Baker.

The building foyer and public areas usually include a 1950 work by Pablo Picasso[10] (originally on a wall in John Desmond Bernal's flat in Torrington Square) and one by Anthony Gormley.[11] A figure by Marc Quinn [12] was originally lying unprotected on the stone floor, then moved inside a glass case, and is also not currently on view.

Exhibitions

DateExhibitionDetails
PermanentMedicine NowAbout
PermanentMedicine ManAbout
8 March 2018 - 27 August 2018 Somewhere in Between About
16 November 2017 - 8 April 2018 Ayurvedic Man: encounters with Indian medicine About
7 September 2017 - 14 January 2018 Can Graphic Design Save Your Life? About
22 June 2017 - 8 October 2017 A museum of modern nature About
23 February 2017 - 25 June 2017 Electricity: The spark of life About
1 December 2016 - 21 May 2017 Making Nature: How we see animals About
15 September 2016 - 15 January 2017 Bedlam: the asylum and beyond About
4 February 2016 - 16 October 2016States of Mind: Tracing the edges of consciousnessAbout
14 April 2016 - 31 July 2016THIS IS A VOICEAbout
19 November 2015 - 28 February 2016Tibet’s Secret TempleAbout
15 October 2015 - 3 January 2016Ann Veronica Janssens: yellowbluepinkAbout
22 October 2015 - 25 October 2015Light TransmissionAbout
22 July 2015 - 18 October 2015Alice Anderson: Memory Movement Memory ObjectsAbout
15 September 2015 - 27 September 2015Raw EmotionAbout
20 November 2014 - 20 September 2015The Institute of SexologyAbout
26 February 2015 - 21 June 2015Forensics: The anatomy of crimeAbout
28 April 2015 - 4 May 2015For Now We SeeAbout
1 May 2015 - 4 May 2015Non in LuceAbout
1 May 2015 - 4 May 2015Modernity’s Candle and the Ways of the Pathless DeepAbout
1 May 2015 - 4 May 2015Slow Story Slide ShowAbout
2 April 2015 - 26 April 2015Forensic IdentityAbout
28 October 2014 - 9 November 2014The Human EmporiumAbout
2 September 2014 - 21 September 2014UnravelledAbout
24 June 2014 - 12 October 2014An Idiosyncratic A to Z of the Human ConditionAbout
15 May 2014 - 10 August 2014The Generosity PlatesAbout
10 May 2014 - 15 May 2014Module UnitsAbout
14 November 2013 - 16 March 2014Foreign Bodies, Common GroundAbout
19 September 2013 - 27 October 2013Thinking with the body: Mind and movement in the work of Wayne McGregor - Random DanceAbout
6 June 2013 - 31 July 2013First Time Out 2013About
11 May 2013 - 12 May 2013Collection of the EverydayAbout
28 March 2013 - 30 June 2013Souzou: Outsider Art from JapanAbout
15 November 2012 - 24 February 2013Death: A self-portraitAbout
18 October 2012 - 11 November 2012Georgie Meadows: Stitched DrawingsAbout
19 July 2012 - 16 October 2012SuperhumanAbout
22 June 2012 - 11 July 2012Super ThinkingAbout
1 June 2012 - 1 June 2013Memory Trace at the Wellcome TrustAbout
29 March 2012 - 17 June 2012Brains: The mind as matterAbout
6 October 2011 - 26 February 2012Felicity Powell - Charmed Life: The solace of objectsAbout
6 October 2011 - 26 February 2012Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintingsAbout
24 March 2011 - 31 August 2011Dirt: The filthy reality of everyday lifeAbout
2 March 2011 - 20 March 2011Ars Moriendi: The art of dyingAbout
20 January 2011 - 22 August 2011First Time OutAbout
9 December 2010 - 16 January 2011Aura Satz: Sound SeamAbout
11 November 2010 - 27 February 2011High SocietyAbout
10 June 2010 - 26 September 2010SkinAbout
26 November 2009 - 6 April 2010IdentityAbout
30 July 2009 - 18 October 2009Exquisite BodiesAbout
1 April 2009 - 28 June 2009Madness & ModernityAbout
19 March 2009 - 2 August 2009Bobby Baker's Diary DrawingsAbout
22 November 2008 - 15 February 2009War and MedicineAbout
23 July 2008 - 28 September 2008SkeletonsAbout
29 May 2008 - 30 June 2008Twenty Six ThingsAbout
9 April 2008 - 19 May 2008Life Before DeathAbout
29 November 2007 - 9 March 2008Sleeping & DreamingAbout
21 June 2007 - 17 September 2007The HeartAbout

See also

References

  1. ↑ Art Fund. "Museum of the Year". Art Fund.
  2. ↑ http://www.archdaily.com/642210/wellcome-collection-london-transformation-wilkinson-eyre-architects
  3. ↑ "Error". wellcome.ac.uk.
  4. ↑ Photograph: Felix Clay/freelance. "The Wellcome Collection". the Guardian.
  5. ↑ "Medical Museums". medicalmuseums.org. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 Houghton, Lauren (23 February 2015). "Wellcome Collection to reopen after £17.5m refurb". Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Wellcome Library - Home". wellcomelibrary.org.
  8. ↑ "Hubbub 'about' page".
  9. ↑ "Exploration of dementia announced as second project of The Hub at Wellcome Collection". 24 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "Bernal's Picasso Goes On Show In London At Wellcome Collection". culture24.org.uk.
  11. ↑ "Antony Gormley". Telegraph.co.uk.
  12. ↑ White Cube. "Exhibitions - White Cube". whitecube.com.
  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata
    • "The Hub". At the top of the Wellcome Collection— a dynamic interdisciplinary research space
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