The Wellcome trust was set up on the death of Sir Henry Wellcome, an eccentric, self made pharmaceutical entrepreneur. Throughout his life his passion for medicine and archeology manifested in a diverse collection of objects from the mundane to obscure. The latter being epitomized by the angry metallic teeth of the “anti-masturbation” devices sitting proudly in unison with the array of steel clad chastity belts.
However, I found a deeper love downstairs from the collection in the “sleeping and dreaming” exhibition. What is sleep? What are dreams? Why do we need sleep? Why do we dream? Do we need to dream? Considering one third of our lives are spent in this state science has really struggled to answer the above questions and hence many modern day ideas are born from the realms of the arts. This dichotomy is reflected in the exhibition as the romance of the arts conjures up interest while science serves to give context.
The exhibition was light by way of facts and those that were represented my Bsc primed eyes met with distain in the absence of evidence. So I left with a feeling of unsatisfied fascination and a frustrated inquisitiveness.
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