High Society Exhibition, Wellcome Collection, London

[d*l*b]

If you are in London in the next few months there's an exhibition that looks well worth a visit.

High Society
11 November 2010 - 27 February 2011

With the illicit drug trade estimated by the UN at $320 billion (£200bn) a year and new drugs constantly appearing on the streets and the internet, it can seem as if we are in the grip of an unprecedented level of addiction. Yet the use of psychoactive drugs is nothing new, and indeed our most familiar ones - alcohol, coffee and tobacco - have all been illegal in the past.

From ancient Egyptian poppy tinctures to Victorian cocaine eye drops, Native American peyote rites to the salons of the French Romantics, mind-altering drugs have a rich history. 'High Society' will explore the paths by which these drugs were first discovered - from apothecaries' workshops to state-of-the-art laboratories - and how they came to be simultaneously fetishised and demonised in today’s culture.

Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/high-society.aspx

 

[zubidlo]

Thanks for suggestion. Interesting.

Regards.

 

[xibalbaNOW]

I popped by a couple of weeks ago. Some interesting paraphernalia from the roaring days of the opium trade, and an interesting visual graphic showing the staggering cost of 'the war on drugs' over the past 40 years... basically it has outspent the combined cost of lots of other industries and has achieved nothing.

From a psychedelic perspective there wasnt much of interest - a spinning lamp with colours, and some kaleidoscopic visuals projected from a slide machine. No real coverage of entheogenic or medicinal uses of plants through human history - there was a small piece of tribal art next to a twig on B.Caapi, but that was it.

Overall a bit disappointing but still worth checking out. Personally the most interesting thing present was a computer that asked for you to enter your own drug experiences, positive or otherwise. Totally anonymous of course. Naturally I couldnt resist taking 20mins to punch in one of my most profound DMT experiences. I'm probably going to end up in some follow-up exhibition or something, rambling about obliterating the ego and dancing with impossible fractals in hyperspace. All in a days' work.