Last night I was part of a small group of people who took part in the Wellcome Trust’s #tweetuptour, where we got a 2 hour behind-the-scenes view of the Wellcome Library, parts of the Wellcome Collection and a look around the Wellcome Foundation’s HQ on Euston Road in London.
The Wellcome Trust is a fascinating organisation – founded shortly after the death of Sir Henry Wellcome (the wealthy pharmacist and philanthropist) in 1936, this charitable foundation now provides over £600m of funding annually to both individuals and organisations in order to further advances in biomedical research (they are the second largest organisation of this type in the world – only the Gates Foundation is larger). In recent years they have funded work in several important areas – mapping the human genome and tracking the impact of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa for example.
‘Bliegiessen’ |
Given that I’m a bit squeamish, I’m rather glad that the medical disciplines which they support weren’t the main focus of our evening! What we were really here to see was just a small part of the absolutely vast collection of art and artifacts gathered by Sir Henry over his lifetime and which, even now, they are still cataloging – not surprising given that there are over two and a half million items in the Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Library combined. The archivists’ task isn’t helped by the fact that the items which Sir Henry acquired also cover an enormous range of disciplines – from obscure medical instruments to oil paintings via research papers and ormolu clocks. As per the stipulation in Sir Henry’s will, new items continue to be added to the collections to this day…
I could be here all night writing about everything that we saw, so I’ll be a little selective and pick out three things which were particularly interesting. Firstly, in the atrium of the Wellcome Foundation’s Gibbs building you’ll find a massive organic-looking sculpture hanging down from the ceiling several floors above, constructed from 142,000 glass beads suspended on 840 kilometres of steel wire. This is ‘Bleigiessen’, designed by Thomas Heatherwick Studios, and based on a shape produced by following the German New Year tradition of dripping molten lead into cold water. The resulting shape is then ‘read’ to predict a person’s fortunes over the coming year. I think it’s fair to say that it is the most breathtaking sculpture I have ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a bit of sculpture over the years!
Behind closed doors in the temperature and humidity-controlled stores where items are kept when they are not on display in the public areas, we also had the opportunity to look at two particularly important manuscripts. One was a folio containing the original writings of Dr John Dee who was an accomplished early scientist in the service of Queen Elizabeth I (he can also be seen in a painting in the reception area, performing an experiment for the Queen with Sir Walter Raleigh and other courtiers looking on). The other, dating from about 350 years later, was to my mind even more remarkable – a very early sketch of the DNA helix casually scribbled on the back of a piece of paper by Francis Crick who, along with James Watson, made this ground-breaking discovery about our genetic make-up in 1953.
Michael Crick’s sketch of the DNA helix |
The good news is, of course, that you can go along and see all of this for yourself, and for free. The Wellcome Collection has public exhibitions throughout the year which showcase various parts of Sir Henry Wellcome’s acquisitions, as well as newly commissioned art and educational displays dedicated to the medical sciences. If you go along with appropriate ID and a proof of address you can also visit the Wellcome Library which contains books, papers, film and images that cover the entire history of medical research from antiquity right up to the modern day. The main exhibition at the Wellcome Collection right now is ‘Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life’, which runs until 31 August and which looks at changing attitudes towards cleanliness across four different time periods and locations – this exhibition is also accompanied by a series of lectures on various associated subjects throughout July and August. I would also recommend the gallery tours and guided walks that take place on a regular basis.
A ‘mobile’ art piece depicting the effects of inherited disease |
The Wellcome Collection and Wellcome Library are definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in this part of Central London. I’ll certainly be returning in the near future, as we barely scratched the surface last night…