Doctor and Mrs Syntax with a party of friends, experimenting with laughing gas
T Rowlandson after W Combe, coloured aquatint, 1823
Well apparently we all live in a ‘High Society’!?
The High Society Exhibition has been on my mind for a while and with a crisp new years winters day and the perfect companions to explore such a topic, it was set. If you want to learn the ins and outs of the drug world in a historical and medicinal context, then you shall be teased and fulfilled on many levels. From apothecary to laboratory, self-experimentation to drug trade and collective intoxification. This exhibition is soft and fun with some great photography, interactive experience and imagery.
One of the most profound experiments they displayed was that of NASA, where they studied the effects of various drugs on the mental and physical behaviours of Spiders. Please see the fascinating findings below.
Marijuana
EXT. (LS) HALF FINISHED SPIDERWEB
(CU) A very red eyed spider is eating the web.
Cocaine
EXT. (LS) SPIDERWEB ON IT’S SIDE
(WS) The spider is jumping up and down on the web like it is a trampoline. Fly’s buzz around above the web.
(MS) spider reaches the extent of his jump, projects his tongue like a frog and catches a fly before dropping back down into the web for another leap.
Caffeine
EXT. (LS) HALF FINISHED AND POORLY MADE
(CU) Spider’s eyes dart from left to right (worried expression). The spiders whole body shakes, teeth chatter. Occasionally the spider lets out short screams with flash bulb eyes.
Alcohol
EXT. (LS) HALF FINISHED SPIDERWEB
(MS) Vomits all over his web, has pieces of food (carrot, pizza) hanging from the web.
Heroin
EXT. (LS) HALF FINISHED SPIDERWEB
The camera pans around an empty web then follows a single strand to the ground where the spider lies upside-down dead from an overdose.
Crack
EXT. HALF FINISHED SPIDERWEB
(CU) The Spider explodes
High Society
Wellcome Collection explores the role of mind-altering drugs in history and culture with its latest exhibition, ‘High Society’, challenging the perception that drugs are a disease of modern life.
High Society: 11 November-27 February
The Welcome Collection is a new gallery for the curious eye! The building is clean with a fantastic library and a delicious line up for the eager eye over the next few months. This was my first trip to the venue and it certainly won’t be my last. They have a focus on the context of science and psychology while examining connections between medicine, life and art in the past, present and future. You can sign up for their lively public events, the world-renowned Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop, conference facilities and a members’ club.
