Visit from Pharmacopoeia

We have had visitors from UK a couple of weeks ago: Susie Freeman and Liz Lee from the British artist group Pharmacopoeia were here to learn to know Medical Museion and vice versa.
Pharmacopoeia is probably best known for their work “Cradle to Grave” which is a part of the “Living and Dying” installation at British Museum in London. This installation is kind of a giant tablecloth with of a life-long supply of pills interwoven. The pills are accompagnied by a timeline of images and small stories constructing the lives of a man on the one side of the table and a woman on the other.
Last fall Pharmacopoeia’s work was exhibited at the Art Centre Silkeborg Bad in Jutland, but the Copenhagen audience has yet to see their work. Their visit to Medical Museion might pave the way for this.[flickr id=”7093468863″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”large” group=”” align=”left”]
I had the honour to show Liz and Susie around in our precious exhibition house. At lunch time they were so kind to talk about their work to an in-houese MUSE workshop audience, with former Medical Museioner Camilla Mordhorst, now at the Museum of Copenhagen, as a special guest. Camilla has written an article about the “Cradle to Grave” installation and it was a good occasion to invite her back to comment on the work of Susie and Liz.
To me the very appealling substance in Pharmacopoeia’s work is the way they manage to make biomedicine relevant to me as an individual. They have a way of bridging the clinical medical world to the existential sphere of everyday life. It could be very interesting to work on further with Susie and Liz, so let’s see if the future will bring a Pharmacopoeia work to Medical Museion.