The Centre for Visual Anthropology and the Anthropology Department, Goldsmiths – Univ. of London are delighted to invite you to the private view for the exhibition London Global Bitters Cabinet – bitters, tinctures and lotions used and sold on the streets of London.
Please follow this link to see the invitation:
An exhibition of alcohol-based tinctures, lotions and bitters will be on display at Goldsmiths, Univ. of London for a month.
Curator Dr Ricardo Leizaola will showcase a multimedia installation of the exotic alcohol-based healing traditions which were found in multicultural London. The exhibition, developed with support from the Wellcome Trust, explores London’s diasporic traditions of the uses of plant-based alcoholic remedies.
This collection was originally conceived as a compendium of remedies, but as research proceeded the collection evolved to include contemporary and new age alternative alcohol-based herbal remedies as well as alcoholic drinks formerly marketed as medicines or with reputed medicinal properties.
Embracing a broader set of ‘medicines’, the collection ranges from well-known artefacts of the Empire, such as Angostura bitter for pink gin, to post-colonial concoctions, including Bedroom Bully and Detox tinctures.
Dr Leizaola illustrates some of the intersections between and among nominally different ways of thinking about and using alcohol-based herbal remedies through a visual exploration juxtaposing these products, their claims and ingredients. Using various digital media this installation explores aesthetic and social aspects of the collision of diverse cultural and social practices and domains which have in common the use of alcohol and herbals for healing or recreation.
The exhibition includes the collection of tinctures and lotions, as well as a selection of posters, texts and videos which analyse an contextualise consists of a collection of spirits, tinctures, lotions an remedies accompanied by a selection of posters, texts and videos analysing and contextualizing the collection.
In collaboration with the Wellcome Trust
Private viewing 18 November, 7pm
Exhibition then runs from 19 November to 17 December
Kingsway Corridor, Richard Hoggard Building, Goldsmiths, New Cross
Entrance is free
2010-11-17