Morbid Anatomy Museum

{{use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}

{{Short description|Defunct museum in Brooklyn, New York}}

{{Infobox museum

| name = Morbid Anatomy Museum

| logo =

| image = Morbid anatomy museum .JPG

| image_upright =

| caption =

| map_type =

| map_caption =

| map_size =

| map_relief =

| former_name =

| established = {{Start date|2014|06|27}}

| dissolved = {{Start date|2016|12|18}}

| location = Brooklyn, New York

| coordinates = {{Coord|40.672844|-73.990053|display=inline,title}}

| type = Natural History, Anatomy, Dime Museum

| key_holdings = Morbid Anatomy Library, rotating collections

| founder = Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, Aaron Beebe, Tonya Hurley

| architect = Robert Kirkbride and Anthony Cohn

| website = {{URL|morbidanatomymuseum.org}}

}}

The Morbid Anatomy Museum was a non-profit exhibition space founded in 2014 by Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, Tonya Hurley, and Aaron Beebe in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.{{Cite news|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews-arts-culture/morbid-anatomy-museum-closes-its-doors-180961509/|title=Morbid Anatomy Museum Closes Its Doors|last=Mansky|first=Jackie|date=December 19, 2016|work=Smithsonian|access-date=2017-10-25|language=en}} The museum was an expansion of Ebenstein's long-running project, the Morbid Anatomy Blog and Library and drew heavily on her experiences with the also defunct art groups Observatory and Proteus Gowanus,{{cite web |last=Furfarro |first=Danielle |title=A bizarre bazaar! Morbid Anatomy Museum hosts a flea market |url=http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/26/24-morbid-anatomy-flea-market-2014-06-27-bk_37_26.html |work=Brooklyn Paper |date=June 26, 2014 |access-date=August 27, 2014}} as well as Beebe's work in the Coney Island Museum{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/arts/design/26strau.html|title=At the Coney Island Museum, the Strange Case of Sigmund F.|last=Strausbaugh|first=John|date=2009-07-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-10-25|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|last=Davis|first=Nicole|date=April 12, 2011|url=https://brooklynbased.com/2011/04/12/the-forgotten-coney-island/|title=The Forgotten Coney Island|website=Brooklyn Based|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-25}} and Dickey's interest in the arcane and the esoteric.{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/author/colin-dickey/|title=Colin Dickey|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-25}} The museum building had a lecture and event space, a cafe, and a store.{{cite web |last=Strochlic |first=Nina |title=Brooklyn's Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy's House of Intriguing Horrors |work=The Daily Beast |date=July 10, 2014 |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/10/brooklyn-s-museum-of-death-inside-morbid-anatomy-s-house-of-intriguing-horrors.html |access-date=August 24, 2014}} The museum's closing was announced on December 18, 2016.

The Museum was conceived, organized and planned by Joanna Ebenstein, Tracy Hurley Martin, Colin Dickey, and Aaron Beebe and located at 424a Third Avenue in Brooklyn, a former nightclub building the interior of which was re-modeled by architects Robert Kirkbride and Tony Cohn in 2014.{{cite web |title=Interview: Robert Kirkbride on Design, Part I |url=http://www.tackmag.com/interview-robert-kirkbride-on-architecture-and-design/ |work=Tack |date=April 16, 2014 |access-date=August 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903070432/http://www.tackmag.com/interview-robert-kirkbride-on-architecture-and-design/ |archive-date=September 3, 2014}} In Ebenstein's words, the new space was designed to give a home for a "regular lecture series and DIY intellectual salon that brings together artists, writers, curators and passionate amateurs dedicated to what {{bracket|Joanna Ebenstein}} sums up as 'the things that fall through the cracks{{'"}}.{{cite news |last=Schuessler |first=Jennifer |title=The Dark Side Gets Its Due |work=The New York Times |date=June 26, 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/nyregion/the-morbid-anatomy-museum-opens-in-brooklyn.html}}

The space focused on forgotten or neglected histories through exhibitions, education, and public programming.{{cite web |last1=Thuras |first1=Dylan |title=The Morbid Anatomy Museum |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-morbid-anatomy-museum |website=Atlas Obscura |access-date=August 27, 2014}} Themes included nature, death and society, anatomy, medicine, arcane media, and curiosity and curiosities broadly considered. The artifacts featured in its rotating exhibitions were drawn from private collections and museums' storage spaces.{{cite web |last=Nelson |first=Amy K. |title=A Night at the Morbid Anatomy Museum |url=http://animalnewyork.com/2014/night-morbid-anatomy-museum/ |work=Animal New York |date=July 10, 2014 |access-date=August 27, 2014}}{{cite web |last=Budick |first=Ariella |title=Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b97229e-27ab-11e4-ae44-00144feabdc0.html |work=Financial Times |date=August 22, 2014 |archive-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825111020/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b97229e-27ab-11e4-ae44-00144feabdc0.html#publicationDate |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last=Moye |first=David |title=Morbid Anatomy Museum: You Know You're Dying To See It |work=The Huffington Post |date=August 24, 2014 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/18/morbid-anatomy-museum_n_5689099.html |access-date=August 24, 2014}}