Morbid Anatomy Museum
 | |
| Established | June 27, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | December 18, 2016 |
| Location | Brooklyn, New York |
| Coordinates | 40°40′22″N 73°59′24″W / 40.672844°N 73.990053°W |
| Type | Natural History, Anatomy, Dime Museum |
| Key holdings | Morbid Anatomy Library, rotating collections |
| Founders | Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, Aaron Beebe, Tonya Hurley |
| Architects | Robert Kirkbride and Anthony Cohn |
| Website | morbidanatomymuseum |
The Morbid Anatomy Museum was a non-profit exhibition space founded in 2014 by Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, Tonya Hurley, and Aaron Beebe in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.[1] The museum closed in 2016, but its research library remains open.[1][2]
History
The Museum was conceived, organized and planned by Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, and Aaron Beebe.[3] It was an expansion of Ebenstein's long-running project, the Morbid Anatomy Blog and Library and drew heavily on her experiences with the also defunct art groups Observatory and Proteus Gowanus,[4] as well as Beebe's work in the Coney Island Museum[5][6] and Dickey's interest in the arcane and the esoteric.[7]
The museum was located at 424a Third Avenue in Brooklyn, a former nightclub building the interior of which was re-modeled by architects Robert Kirkbride and Tony Cohn in 2014.[3]
The space focused on forgotten or neglected histories through exhibitions, education, and public programming.[8] Themes included nature, death and society, anatomy, medicine, arcane media, and curiosity and curiosities broadly considered. The artifacts featured in its rotating exhibitions were drawn from private collections and museums' storage spaces.[9][10][11]
The museum building also had a lecture and event space, a cafe, and a store.[12] In Ebenstein's words, the space was designed to give a home for a "regular lecture series and DIY intellectual salon that brings together artists, writers, curators and passionate amateurs dedicated to what [Ebenstein] sums up as 'the things that fall through the cracks'".[13]
The museum's closing was announced on December 18, 2016.[1] The museum's extensive research library remains open to the public in Industry City.[2]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Mansky, Jackie (December 19, 2016). "Morbid Anatomy Museum Closes Its Doors". Smithsonian. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- 1 2 "The Morbid Anatomy Library houses hundreds of books and artifacts well as a giftshop". Morbid Anatomy. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
- 1 2 "Interview: Robert Kirkbride on Design, Part I". Tack. April 16, 2014. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ↑ Furfarro, Danielle (June 26, 2014). "A bizarre bazaar! Morbid Anatomy Museum hosts a flea market". Brooklyn Paper. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ↑ Strausbaugh, John (July 22, 2009). "At the Coney Island Museum, the Strange Case of Sigmund F." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- ↑ Davis, Nicole (April 12, 2011). "The Forgotten Coney Island". Brooklyn Based. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- ↑ "Colin Dickey". Hyperallergic. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
- ↑ Thuras, Dylan. "The Morbid Anatomy Museum". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ↑ Nelson, Amy K. (July 10, 2014). "A Night at the Morbid Anatomy Museum". Animal New York. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ↑ Budick, Ariella (August 22, 2014). "Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 25, 2014.
- ↑ Moye, David (August 24, 2014). "Morbid Anatomy Museum: You Know You're Dying To See It". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ↑ Strochlic, Nina (July 10, 2014). "Brooklyn's Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy's House of Intriguing Horrors". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer (June 26, 2014). "The Dark Side Gets Its Due". The New York Times.