Wow; I SO wish I was still in London for this spectacular looking event featuring our good friend Dr. John Troyer and organized by the lovely Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld. Full details follow; you can find additional information here.
LONDON DAY OF THE DEADImage: Plague Of London, 1665. "Lord, have mercy on London." Sourced here.
Saturday 12th October 2013
33 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6EU
Can you legally bury someone in your garden in London?
Why have only a third of Londoners made a will?
Do you know what will happen to your Facebook account after you’ve updated your status for the very last time?
To answer these and many other curious questions about the past, present and future of death in the city we have programmed a London Day of the Dead for Hendricks Carnival of Knowledge. Join us to meet an undertaker, make a last will and testament, a death mask, a memorial offering or a ‘things I must do before I die’ list.
With workshops, a shrine, a series of fascinating speakers and experts London Death – and Life – will be vividly evoked.
1. LONDON: CITY OF BONE
1.00pm – 3.00pm
BUY TICKETS
Join Robert Stephenson and Jelena Bekvalac to explore what happened to some of the many Londoners before us.
Historian and esoteric London expert ROBERT STEPHENSON will take us on a dance macabre around the capital’s corporeal past and show how the city’s mighty and humble have often been brought to peculiar and poignant ends.
What happens to bones found during excavations for shiny new towers or rail routes? And what do they tell us about their previous owners? JELENA BEKVALAC, the Museum of London’s curator of osteology uncovers some of London’s skeletal remains.
Followed by conversation, questions and answers.
2. THE LONDON WAY OF DEATH 3.30pm – 5.30pm
BUY TICKETS
Join Matt Brown and Brian Parsons to explore ‘London Undone’
What do Blackfriars, Denmark Street, Regents Park and Colney Hatch have in common? Londonist editor MATT BROWN informs and surprises with strange and little known stories of how the capital has accidentally seen off large numbers of its inhabitants.
When death overtakes us, who will undertake us? And where in London will they take us? Writer BRIAN PARSONS provides a fascinating insight into the history and practice of London undertaking, showing how the city’s cultural character is reflected in its funerals and burial rituals.
Followed by conversation, questions and answers.
3. LONDON HEREAFTER
7.30pm – 9.30pm
BUY TICKETS
Join John Troyer and James Norris to explore the ‘City without us’ and reveal some surprising facts for Londoners.
The choices for the afterlife are increasing. DR JOHN TROYER of the Center for Death and Society gives a glimpse into new technologies of ‘disposal’ including sonic boom dispersion, green burial, freeze drying, and holographic graveyards.
What will happen to our online life when we’re gone? Is a ‘social’ presence possible in the hereafter? JAMES NORRIS founder of DeadSocial provides a ‘digital legacy tool’ enabling living Londoners to creatively cross into their real ‘Second Life’.
Followed by conversation, questions and answers.
DEATH MASKS WORKSHOP
1.00pm – 3.00pm
FREE
Craft mistresses KAREN SHAND and JOANNA WHELAN of Use it up – Wear it Out’ will bring their mobile workshop to guide you through the making of your own mask of death. With jewellery, haberdashery, trimmings and embellishments, they will guide particpants to create their own non-self image to wear, take home or to offer up on our Day Of The Dead Shrine.
LAST WORDS WORKSHOP
3.30pm – 5.30pm
FREE
Our Last Will and Testament is our final chance to address the world we are leaving behind us – but most people now living in London have not made one. Why? JAMES NORRIS of Dead Social will be on hand to answer these and other questions and show that not only is it possible to enjoy creating a legacy for the next life but that doing so will improve this one.
Participants will be guided through the process of making a will with a genuine Hendricks Last Will and Testament legal document.
MEET THE UNDERTAKER WORKSHOP
7.30pm – 9.30pm
FREE
Is it possible to be buried in central London? What would it cost?
What are the top ten London funerary songs? What are the strangest things that people put in the coffin with their loved ones? What happens to the parts of us that won’t burn? RICHARD PUTT of Levertons, undertakers to the Royal Family, Margaret Thatcher and many others will offer attendees the chance to ask all the questions they have always wanted to about “a day in the life of death for a London Undertaker.”
PLUS
DRESSES TO DIE FOR PRESENTATION
6.30pm – 7.00pm
FREE
Join style icon, DJ and fashion historian AMBER JANE BUTCHART in the basement cinema as she waltzes you through the Victorian Fetish for Funereal Fashion in a presentation on the gorgeous depths of sentimental sartorial style, and corporeal couture with a brief history of black.
LONDON UNDEAD
7.30pm – 8.30pm
FREE
Take to the cinema to join WILL FOWLER BFI curator as he explores, digs up and puts a stake through the heart of the Highgate Vampire legend with music, movie clips, stories and images of Highgate cemetery. Spooky and introspective this is a glorious venture into the macabre world of cult film, mondo and exploitation. No Garlic allowed.
LONDON DAY OF THE DEAD SHRINE – On the first floor landing.
Bring an offering for a dead loved Londoner, make a mask for a live one, or a ‘things I must do before I die’ list for yourself and offer them here at this specially made shrine by JESSICA BREWER.
The ANTIQUE BEAT BOUTIQUE will be present and patrolling. We will be releasing new and very curious gifts.
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