All out for All Hallows’ Eve

Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, until 30 October

Charting the fascinating convergence of science and art to further understand the human body through anatomical investigation from the 16^th century to now, this exhibition is the one you never thought you needed but do.

Starting off chronologically with key moments in medical history such as Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical studies and the anatomist Andreas Vesalius’s extraordinary book, De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem – with beautifully-drawn dead figures posed perfectly to display their physiology for medical needs – the gruesome Dutch history paintings of surgeons mid operation, this show has lots of painful looking surgical instruments on display too.

Half-way through, the exhibition takes a turn into an almost experiential section about the body snatching trade in Edinburgh, the tools used and the mechanisms people used to evade the grave robbers. The exhumed cadavers were paid for healthily by anatomists lusting further knowledge through dissections.

Of course a large section is devoted to the murderous partnership Burke and Hare and their murky trade and subsequent murders to provide corpses for the advancement of science. A very unusual exhibition in subject and structure, and one not to be missed.

The Old Operating Theatre, London

The museum celebrates its 60^th birthday open to the public this Thursday, 27 October, and to herald the fact, it will be free to all visitors that day.

Opening to the public for the first time on 27 October 1962, the museum is also holding a pop-up exhibition on its founder, the antiquarian Raymond Russell. While investigating the attic, where the museum is, of St Thomas’ Church in 1956, Russell came across the relic of the old operating theatre.

It had been bricked up since 1862. After six years of fundraising and restoration, with the support of surgeons and medical practitioners including the then pioneering heart surgeon Lord Brock, the museum opened in 1962.

You have to imagine curious medical students leaning over the bars peering at a corpse being dissected live by their surgeon-professor in the 18^th or 19^th century, exactly the kind of medics that Burke and Hare would have provided cadavers for from their grave robbing, and murderous, pursuits.

To be Read at Dusk: Ghosts and the Supernatural

Dickens Museum, London, until 5 March 2023

The Victorians really got stuck into the supernatural, and the great novelist Charles Dickens was ready to feed the public’s lust for it. Dickens, who was a fascinated sceptic, even described his own “hankering after ghosts”. So with ectoplasm on the rise and public thrall at culmination point, Dickens honed his skills to become a master ghost story writer and performer.

From A Christmas Carol to his less well-known ghost stories (there are many), this show explores the author’s natural flare for a ghoulish tale. And the museum also has a range of spooky events, with seances commencing on 26 October and ghostly tours of the house on 5 November. I can hear chains rattling.

The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain

Somerset House, London, 27 October 2022 to 19 February 2023   

A much-needed exploration into the influence of the last 50 years of cultural politics on the horror genre, this exhibition looks at modern history through the lens of the weird, wonderful and macabre.

From punk to present day, the show interrogates how Britain’s political and cultural backdrop has influenced the evolution of horror by approaching the topic in three parts: Monster (which deals with the 1970s and 80s), Ghost (the 90s and noughties), and Witch (2008 to now).

More than 200 works of art are on show from a star-spangled list, including artists Helen Chadwick (made famous by her piss-flowers, not on display in this show); Monster Chetwynd (famous for her weird yet raunchy performance art); Jake and Dinos Chapman (the enfants-terrible known for their violent artworks); Ralph Steadman (grotesque satirical cartoons); and a collaboration between Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade (masterminds of horror parody Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace).

The list goes on, but if you’re into horror and all its surrounding sub genres, this is the place to be. Visionary British sound artist Gazelle Twin (I dare you to listen) and the creator of the fictional folk horror Scarfolk even make an appearance. This show traces the British obsession with anything from the weird, the freaky to the downright scary.

Executions!

Museum of London Docklands, until 16 April 2023

Say no more – this show really is a blockbuster. A breakdown of crimes and the “Bloody Code”, by which someone could be put to death through the early methods of drawing, hanging and quartering, burning or boiling, this exhibition cuts straight to the point in its opening gallery.

Fulfilling the average punter’s lust for a bit of gore with ease, Executions! also looks at the people who were killed and why from the 13^th to the 20^th centuries, how they could be reprieved and the traditions around these popular public ceremonies.

And public ceremonies they were – people would miss work to watch them, much to employers’ frustrations. The Museum of London Docklands has been able to delve into its extraordinarily rich archive, as well as borrow key objects, to tell a more in-depth story around some of those wrongly condemned, as well as common criminals such as Jack Sheppard (hanged in 1724 at the age of 22) who became a public antihero for escaping prison on numerous occasions.

From minor offences to high treason, this exhibition portrays London’s gruesome love affair with capital punishment. Brilliant exhibition design and some clever use of soundscapes make it all the more enjoyable.

Treason: People, Power and Plot

National Archives, Richmond, London, 5 November 2022 to 6 April 2023

Of course, many of those poor souls condemned to death were those that committed treason, whether they were Catholic or Protestant or something else. The National Archives in Kew, Richmond, opens its show on the topic with perfect timing on the day of Guy Fawkes Night, 5 November – we all know the rhyme – and includes history defining documents including an original 1352 Treason Act.

This exhibition also delves into the difficulties of being a woman with charges brought against you via Anne Boleyn’s story and documents dating from 1536. And, notably, the efforts of the enslaved Baptist preacher, Samuel Sharpe, and his support for emancipation in Jamaica in 1832 are also examined. To kick off the show, the archives are running the talk Treason 1485: The demise of Richard III, the English king who was accused of treason after his death, this Friday at 2pm on site.  

Horror in the Modernist Block

Ikon, Birmingham, 25 November 2022 to 1 May 2023

The architecture of the horror genre has most notably been aligned with that of the gothic – pointed arches, flickering candle light and deep shadows – but newer explorations of horror depend largely on clean lines and rational, brutalist architecture.

The scarcity of modern architecture brings terrifying dystopian backdrops to many a film – from Ringu (1998, the Japanese original of the American version), Ju-On (the Grudge, 2002), Oldboy (Korean, 2003), the humorous Attack the Block (British, 2011), to the deeply disturbing Hereditary (2018). Ikon Gallery, in Birmingham, in its 19^th century neo-gothic building brings this exciting interrogation of architectural modernism and horror.

Twenty contemporary artists, including Shezad Dawood and Ho Tzo Nyen above), explore creeping anguish and terror against the backdrop of Birmingham. This show promises to be filmic, intriguing and – hopefully – cause a sense of deep dismay.