Date: Saturday April 21st and Sunday April 22nd
ADMISSION: $30 for full weekend admission; tickets here
* Location: Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Ave. Brooklyn (please note changed location!)
Presented by The Morbid Anatomy Library with The Coney Island Museum
The Congress for Curious Peoples is a 2-day scholarly-yet-popular symposium that is part of the larger, 10-day Congress of Curious Peoples This year’s iteration will feature panel discussions on such topics as pre-cinematic immersive amusements and religion as spectacle, with featured speakers including Sara Velas of The Velaslavasay Panorama; Paul Koudounaris of Empire of Death; an as-of-yet unnamed representative of the amazing Sleep No More; and Colin Dickey, author of Cranioklepty. Also featured will be stand-alone lectures on the 17th century artist of fetal skeleton tableaux Frederik Ruysch and the phenomenon of ethnographic displays called “human zoos,” a screening of an over-the-top early 1970s TV Evangelist Christmas spectacular, and introductory lectures by myself and Coney Island Museum director Aaron Beebe. Full schedule follows; hope to see you there!
SATURDAY APRIL 21st
11:00 – 12:00: Keynote Addresses
- Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy Library
- Aaron Beebe, Coney Island Museum
12:00 – 1:00: Lunch
1:00 – 3:30: Immersive Amusements: Cosmoramas, Cycloramas and Panoramic Illusions: Panel discussion moderated and introduced by Aaron Beebe, The Coney Island Museum
- Suzanne Wray
- Sara Velas, The Velaslavasay Panorama
- Jessica Routhier, The Saco Museum
- Errki Huhtamo, UCLA
- Russell Potter, Rhode Island College
- Denise Blake Oleksijczuk, Simon Fraser University
4:00 – 5:00: The Business of the Dead: Frederik Ruysch as an Entrepreneurial Anatomist, Lecture by Daniel Margocsy, Hunter College
5:00: Christmas in America: Miss Velma and the Evangelist Spectacle: Screening of “Christmas in America,” an early 1970s television special by Miss Velma, early TV evangelist, introduced by Daniel Paul
SUNDAY APRIL 22
11:00 – 1:00: Religion and Spectacle: A panel with discussion moderated and introduced by Joanna Ebenstein, Morbid Anatomy Library
- Paul Koudounaris, author of Empire of Death
- Shannon Taggart, Photographer
- Salvador Olguín
- The Venerable Tsering Phunstok
- Colin Dickey, author of Cranioklepty
1:00 – 2:30: Lunch and Sideshow Visit
2:30 – 3:30: Traveling Ethnographic Shows and Human Zoos, a lecture by Elizabeth Bradley
3:30 – 5:30: Theater Rethunk: An Alternative History of the Theatrical: A panel with discussion moderated and introduced by Chris Muller
- Amy Herzog, Queens College
- An as-of-yet unnamed representative of Sleep No More
- Chris Muller, New York University
- Dick Zigun, Founder of Coney Island USA