Meeting Place is a regular series of informal exchanges and conversations, held at BALTIC 39. These intimate Salon-style discussions are interdisciplinary and designed to explore the ways artists collaborate with experts in the fields of science, the environment, health and medicine to generate new research and artwork. Developed by BALTIC Professor, Christine Borland and BALTIC Curator of Exhibitions & Research, Alessandro Vincentelli.
Artist Jordan Basemen and sociologist and Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath John Troyer, discuss the exhibition Deadness, presented at Matt’s Gallery in 2013. Deadness derived from Baseman’s creative non-fiction and interview-based practice, exploring the historical, cultural and sociological relationship between photographic portraiture and embalming.
Dr Troyer grew up around funeral homes prior to his academic engagement with the subject of embalming, witnessing first-hand from a young age through his father’s work as a Funeral Director. Deadness presents his professional and personal connection to embalming.