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“Old” Anatomy goes live for Science Week 2018

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on November 13, 2018 – 11:14 am
Filed under Anthropology, Comment, Education, Research, Science Week

 

 

Going Wilde in “Old” Anatomy. William Wilde’s collection of skulls goes on display in TCD as a backdrop for the filming of “Growing, Up Live”

 

The skulls have been taken out of storage and put on display as the “Old” Anatomy Museum in TCD goes “live” for three nights during  Science Week 2018. The Museum has been  transformed into a studio for  Growing Up, Live. It is being filmed in front of a live studio audience and the programme makers will “be treating the audience to live science experiments every night”  which, RTE promises, “will unlock our understanding of a human lifetime.’

The Anatomy Museum is a really interesting setting for a show like this. Historically, dissections were done in front of a live audience. That won’t happen in “Growing Up, Live” but the audience will be surrounded by the results of 300 years of anatomical research. The Museum is  home to a collection of anatomical and medical specimens that was built up over 300 years of medical education in Trinity College, University of Dublin,  much of  which was “re-discovered” when “Old” Anatomy Dept was decommissioned in 2014 and the School of Medicine move to the TBSI building on Pearse St.

 

Angela Scanlon adopts the traditional pose of the Anatomist – skull in hand – in “Old” Anatomy in preparation for the filming of “Growing Up, Live.”

 

 

The live broadcast marks a turning point in the process of opening the least known and most interesting museum in Dublin to the public.  In March 2017, Joe Duffy created some controversy when he called for the skeleton of Cornelius Magrath, the Irish Giant, to be removed from display in the mistaken belief the Magrath’s body had been robbed, dissected in secret, and his skeleton put on display in 1760. I was working on the collection at the time and found evidence that Magrath had in fact been in the care of Trinity School of Medicine when he died.

The controversy died but there was a some nervousness about opening the collections to the public as a result. Brendan Holland, another Irish Giant, came to the rescue. He filmed part of the documentary “The Giant Gene”  in the Anatomy Museum and went public on the most difficult question of all: as a giant, how would he feel it his skeleton was put on display? Brendan didn’t have a problem with that, given the contribution that historic specimens like Magrath continue to make to medical research into conditions like gigantism.

 

 

2018. Public engagement at work: BBC Northern Ireland recording an interview between Brendan Holland and Martina Hennessy (School of Medicine TCD) for the a documentary entitled “The Giant Gene.” It was produced by Chris Nikkel and broadcast in June 2018.

 

2016. The Anatomy Museum operating as a mixture of conservation workshop and anthropological “field.” This is some of the material that was discovered in 2014 and needed to be sorted, catalogued, and stored in preparation for conservation and display. The anthropological material is visible in the foreground.

 

The use of the space as a studio marks another turning point. An enormous amount of material was discovered in the process of decommissioning the “Old” Anatomy Dept in 2014. Much of this was in tea-chests and crates but there was a lot of material stored under the old theatre and in every nook and cranny of the building.  This included a really important collection of photographs taken in the Aran Islands in 1890, shortly before the Anatomy Dept established a small Anthropology Dept and opened an anthropometric (the measurement of humans) laboratory.

 

A photograph taken by Andrew F. Dixon and Alfred Cort Haddon in Dún Chonnchubhair, Inis Meáin, in 1890. The negative on the left still has the  masking that was used to create the effect of a clear sky. The image on the right is an inverted scan of the original, which is called a positive.

 

That is where curator.ie got involved. I received funding from the Irish Research Council (research.ie)  to work on collections associated with the Anthropometric Laboratory and its programme of ethnographic surveys in the west of Ireland. The project was a joint venture of Maynooth University, TCD School of Medicine, and Kimmage Development Studies Centre, now Shanahan Research Centre.

As a curator and  a student of anthropology,  I did my fieldwork in “Old” Anatomy.  Most of the material discovered in 2014 was stored in the Anatomy Museum and it took the best part of two years to go through it and organise suitable storage in the nooks and crannies from whence it came. The plan, all along, was to restore the museum as a public space.

The filming of “The Giant Gene” was a key part of a strategy to make the collection visible and to engage the public in a conversation about the contemporary significance of “Old” Anatomy, whether that is the Skeleton of Magrath, the huge range of medical education material, or the ethnographic material associated with the Anthropological Dept.

The filming of “Growing Up, Live” is on a different scale altogether, given the reach of Science Week and the presence in the museum of a studio audience. RTE publicists have described the “studio” as an amazing Anatomy Museum”  and it will be very interesting to see how the audience engages with the various collections.

 

This is the space to watch during Science Week.

 

 

The history of the British Isles as represented in skulls. Ethnologists in the mid-nineteenth century believed that they could find traces of the various invasions of Ireland by comparing the shape of ancient skulls.

 

 

To Follow: The Skull Measuring Business: the work of the Dublin Anthropometric Anthropometric Laboratory (1891-1903).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciarán Walsh elected fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on August 4, 2015 – 1:28 pm
Filed under Anthropology, Education, Research

Logo of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, posted by Ciarán Walsh of www.curator.ie

 

Ciarán Walsh has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. This follows his pioneering work on the Irish Ethnographic Survey and the impact this had on the early development of anthropology in Ireland and the UK. Walsh first presented this material at a conference on anthropology and photography in the British Museum in 2014. In 2015 he presented an update on his research as part of  the Fellows seminar series in the Institute in London, along with his research partner Dr. Jocelyne Dudding of Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA). He will present a further paper on the connection between the Irish Ethnographic Survey and the institutional development of the RAI at a conference in December 2015. This will be based on new work that has been done as part of his postgraduate research in Maynooth University (Anthropology).

 

RAI Research Seminar: Walsh & Dudding, RAI RESEARCH SEMINAR SEMINAR SERIES AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE Haddon in Ireland, reconstructing the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey Ciarán Walsh, Maynooth University Dr Joe Dudding, Arch and Anth Museum, Cambridge Wednesday 8 April at 5.30 pm This illustrated talk outlines a project to reconstruct the archive of the Irish Ethnographic Survey that was established by Haddon in 1891 under the umbrella of the British Ethnographic Survey. The Irish Survey was overshadowed by subsequent developments in Cambridge / Torres but, unlike the British Survey, it was active 'in the field' for almost a decade. The records of the Survey were dispersed over collections in Ireland and the UK where they have remained uncatalogued and largely overlooked for 120 years. Recent research has however, uncovered manuscripts, photographs and artifacts (the contents of Haddon's Anthropometric Laboratory in Dublin for instance) that have the capacity to change our understanding of the early development of Anthropology in Ireland and the UK. More work needs to be done and the role played by the RAI in particular in the establishment by Haddon of the Survey and the Laboratory in Dublin needs to be examined. This event is free, but tickets must be booked. To book tickets please go to http://walshdudding.eventbrite.co.uk Location : Royal Anthropological Institute, London

Jocelyne Dudding (Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and Ciarán Walsh (Curator.ie and Maynooth University) .

 

 

Ciarán Walsh participates in wet plate collodion workshop with Monika Fabijanczyk

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on September 23, 2014 – 6:15 pm
Filed under art, Education, Photography, Research

 

31.08.2014:  Ciarán Walsh participates in a 1 day wet plate collodion workshop with Monika Fabijanczyk

 

In the wet plate collodion process photographs are created on glass or metal plates. The plates are coated and sensitised, exposed in a wet plate camera (or any camera that has been adapted to take a plate glass negative) and processed while they are still wet. Everything has to be done within 15 minutes or so, moving from the darkroom to the camera and back. It is a slow process where everything is made by hand, from preparing the plates and light sensitive material, through to developing, fixing, and varnishing the photographs.

The collodion process produces a negative which, if exposed on a blackened glass plate (an Ambrotype) or a metal plate (a Tintype) is reversed,  producing a one-off positive image. This technique creates stunning photographs, the combination of glass and metallic silver against a black background produces intriguing effects in terms of tone and texture.

The workshop was intensive and a little challenging according to Walsh. ”It’s 25 years since I have been in a darkroom but Monika took each of us through the process, calmly and efficiently.   Large format (4×5 inches) cameras were used with artificial and natural light to take portrait and still life shots ranging from 7 to 50 second exposures, Some worked, some didn’t but the excitement of seeing an image develop in the darkroom was something I had forgotten all about and it was a tremendous surprise on the day. The complexity of the chemical processes and the speed required to ‘get’ the image before the plate dries or overdevelops really makes one reconsider the work done by Timothy O’Sullivan and other photographers during the American Civil War.”

Highly recommended.

For more information:www.monikafabijanczyk.com

 

 

 

 

Major research proposal endorsed by NUI Maynooth

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on August 9, 2014 – 4:37 pm
Filed under Anthropology, Education, Heritage, Research

Mark Maguire, Ciarán Walsh , Nicola Reynolds and Steve Coleman

Mark Maguire, Head of Anthropology NUI Maynooth, Ciarán Walsh , Nicola Reynolds, President of thr Anthropological Society NUIM and Steve Coleman, NUIM at the opening of the Headhunter exhibition in NUI Maynooth in October 2013.

A major research proposal prepared by Ciarán Walsh for the Irish Research Council’s (IRC) Employment Based Post-graduate Programme has been endorsed by the National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM)  and now proceeds to the IRC for evaluation and adjudication. The proposal builds on the work that Walsh has been doing on the ‘Haddon in Ireland Project’ and involves a 4 year post-graduate research project supervised by Mark Maguire of NUIM in partnership with Abarta Audio Guides, a small heritage services company operated by Neil Jackman and Róisín Burke.

Neil Jackman of Abarta Audio Guides: http://abartaaudioguides.com/about-us

The ‘Haddon in Ireland’ research project brings together public research (NUI Maynooth), private sector innovation (Abarta Audio, Clonmel) and a researcher with a proven track record (Ciaran Walsh) to reopen and reexamine the history of human science in the British isles.

Anthropometry Inisbofin 6007

This project aims to explore the Irish Ethnographic Survey, an attempt to reveal the origins of the Irish ‘race’ undertaken by scientists from Ireland and the UK between 1891 and 1903. Among them was the famous AC Haddon. This was the beginning of ‘scientific’ Anthropology but it was overshadowed by subsequent developments in Cambridge. The records were ‘lost,’ dispersed over collections in Ireland and the UK where they have remained uncatalogued and largely overlooked for 120 years.

The primary aim to reconstruct that archive and place it in the public domain. The central question is how that can be achieved, given that the material is spread over a dozen institutions in 4 jurisdictions. We will look to the latest interactive technology for solutions.

We propose to create a transnational network that digitally links collections Dublin, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and Belfast. We will develop interactive tools that will provide access to it and enhance the users experience of our anthropological heritage. The contemporary significance of this is enormous. The Survey’s attempts to trace the origins of the Irish people continues with the genetic study of populations.

This project will reconnect both and the transnational component will add enormously to the impact of the project on the public construction of Anthropological knowledge.

‘Ár Ré-na’ Opens in Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, Dingle.

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on July 2, 2014 – 3:39 pm
Filed under art, Education, Exhibition

A split shot of the attendance at the opening of the exhibition Ár Ré-na by 5th year students of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne. An exhibition of self-portraits which are on show in the school  in Dingle in May 2014. The photo features students, members of the public and Sean Mac n tSíthig, school principal Padraig  Firtéir and Art Teacher Brenda Ní Frighil.mountainsphoto.ru

 

 

Ár Ré-Na (Our Times)  is an exhibition of paintings by students of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland. The students are studying art as part of their senior cycle programme (5th Year) and the exhibition consists of a series of self portraits developed through a photographic project and realised in a wide range of media.  Each portrait is an intensely personal expression of how they ‘see’ themselves but, collectively, they provide us with  fascinating insight into the world of a group a group of 16 year old student artists living in the west of Ireland. The exhibition was opened at the end of May by Seán Mac an tSíthigh, filmmaker and journalist with RTE and TG4.  It is on view during school hours.

 

 

 

The Best Exhibition in Kerry: curator.ie working with Brenda Ní Frighil and the students of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne in Dingle

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Posted by Ciaran Walsh on May 21, 2014 – 10:51 am
Filed under Artists, Education, Exhibition

<img class="size-full wp-image-3376 " alt="Photograph of 5th Year students (aged 16+) holding their self-portraits, A2 sized multimedia works, which will go on show in the school as part of the Ár Ré-na exhibition.. Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne is an all Irish community school in Dingle, County Kerry. www.curator.ie has been working with the students and their art teacher, brenda Ní Frighil, on the preparations for the exhibition." src="https://www.curator.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/POBALSCOIL-CHORCA-1.jpg" width="610" height="322" srcset="https://www.curator.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/POBALSCOIL-CHORCA-1.jpg 610w, http://www.curator click for info.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/POBALSCOIL-CHORCA-1-300×158.jpg 300w” sizes=”(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px” />

Fifth year students of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, Dingle, Co. Kerry with the self-portraits that will feature in the Ár Ré-na’ exhibition in May 2014

Ár Ré-Na
Taispeantas Scoláirí Ealaine, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne,
An Daingean
Á oscailt ag Seán Mac an tSíthigh 21.05.2014

Téacs / Text__________________________________________________________________

An dteastaigh uait riamh tumadh isteach in inchinn an déagóra?

Bhuel, seo é do sheans.
Beidh saothar scoláirí ealaíne na 5ú bliana ar taispeáint don phobal ar a 6 a chlog ar an gCéadaoin an 21 Bealtaine le tacaíocht ó Creative Engagement. Tabharfaidh an ealaín a bheidh ar taispeáint léargas ar phearsantachtaí, ar fhéiniúlachtaí agus ar shaol inmheánach na n-ealaíontóirí óga.
Osclóidh Seán Mac an tSíthigh an taispeántas. Is scannánóir áitiúil agus iriseoir le RTÉ agus TG4 é Seán. Is cinnte go mbeidh tráthnóna suimiúil ann a thabharfaidh spléachadh dúinn ar shaol cruthaitheach an déagóra.

Have you ever wondered about the inner workings of a teenage mind?

This is your chance to find out.
Fifth year art students of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne are hosting an art exhibition of their work in the school ‘Dánlann’ exhibition space, opening on Wednesday the 21st of May at 6pm.  The work exhibited is an expression of the personalities, identities and inner world of student artists. The exhibition will be officially opened by Seán Mac an tSíthigh, local filmmaker and journalist with RTE and TG4.  It is sure to provide a rare glimpse into the creative world of the teenage mind.
Bígí linn. Fáilte roimh cách.

_________________________________________________________________________________

A thuilleadh eolais le fáil ag /  For more information please contact:
Brenda Ní Fríghil, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne
fón: 066 9150055;
ríomhphost: pcd07@eircom.net
nó neasa09@pcd07.ie

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TCD to announce return of ancestral remains to Inishbofin



Blogging resumes on Ballymaclinton: An Irish giant, 24 stolen skulls, one colonial legacies project and a slave owner named Berkeley.



Is the TCD statement on the stolen skulls of Inishbofin a missed opportunity?



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