A vintage crash test dummy, head bowed, its metal and rubber body broken by countless collisions, appears almost thankful its violent work is done.
Nearby, can be seen a 1940s Japanese papier-mâché, metal and lacquer model of the human nervous system. It is topped by a bisected skull that appears to be grinning triumphantly at our discomfort.
These are only two pieces of more than two dozen unusual, fascinating — and often disturbing — artifacts central Alberta-raised brothers Jude and Brendan Griebel have pulled together in their upcoming show Care and Wear: Bodies Crafted for Harm and Healing, which runs from Sept. 23 to Dec. 17 at Esker Foundation’s contemporary art gallery in Calgary.
Most of the items came from the Griebel brothers’ Museum of Fear and Wonder. It is a by-appointment-only showcase near Bergen for the objects, weird and wonderful, the brothers have collected for more than two decades. With the exhibition in mind, they spent the last 18 months seeking out new additions to flesh out — so to speak — their theme of how crafted forms of the human body connect us through shared experiences and emotions.
One cannot look at the spiderweb intricacy of our nervous system as modelled by the Clay Adams Company in U.S.-occupied Japan around 80 years ago without being awed and, perhaps, unsettled by the fragility of all that wiring that keeps us alive.
Jude says the exhibit came out of the brothers’ shared desire to present their collection to a larger audience.
“All those tours we give at the museum, they all end up being conversations about historical objects and antiques and understanding the body,” says Jude, a visual artist who has exhibited his work throughout Canada, the U.S. and France. Brendan is an Arctic anthropologist, curator and researcher of museology and material culture.
“The objects we’re showing are really quite rare and we’re really excited to be presenting them to the public. It’s a really special collection of objects to see.”
Among the visitors to the Museum of Fear and Wonder have been curators from Esker Foundation, which has been a strong supporter of the museum and other alternative art initiatives throughout Canada. Those visits turned into conversations about an outside exhibit.
“The idea for the exhibit is thinking about today’s body and how we consider identity in today’s age. Much of our identity has shifted online to virtual identities and avatars. We’re thinking about ourselves on digital platforms outside of our bodies as we are rooted within our own physical bodies.”
“This exhibit explores artifacts from a time when human surrogates were crafted and we learned various aspects of care, aggression and human experience, physically using them.”
Among their new finds for the exhibit, are life-sized, realistically weighted manikins with articulated limbs from the 1920s to 1940s designed to teach nurses how to manoeuvre patients in and out of hospital beds. They are called manikins, not mannequins, which are dolls or statues designed to show off clothing.
“Care and Wear” references how representations of our bodies were used to teach both empathy and aggression, he says.
“We’re showing everything from children’s dolls … to things like crash test dummies.
“They are crafted stand-ins for the real human body and they were created in a way that we were supposed to engage with them as though they were real. So, they are very deeply psychological objects.”
In many cases, glass eyes and fingernails were crafted to edge them closer to reality.
“It’s a really dramatic shift. If you think about a CPR dummy in today’s world. It’s just a grey, plastic, pared-down shape as opposed to some of the historic CPR dummies that we’ll be showing that were crafted from wood and jointed and had leather skin.
“It speaks to a time when the imagination was tasked with animating materials to teach us about the human experience.”
Other life-like manikins, innards included, were used to teach surgeons what to expect as they opened up their patients, a job often now done virtually using digital technology.
“A lot of these objects sort of carry the scars of their use over time as well,” he said. “In today’s world … things happen on a screen and you just reboot and there’s no trace of that journey or experience through time.”
The exhibit also looks at the lack of representation of different kinds of bodies and of different races in the human surrogates.
“When exhibiting these objects we are also acknowledging what types of bodies are left out and the racism and exclusion evident in these past teaching models as well.”
An exhibition catalogue has been prepared and will be for sale with artistic photos of the exhibit, an interview with the brothers and an essay written by them. University of Alberta art historian Lianne McTavish also contributes an essay.
The free show begins with a public reception on Sept. 22, which includes a guided tour by the Griebels on Saturday, Sept. 23. Go to eskerfoundation.com for more information.
A model in papier-mâché, lacquer and metal of the central nervous system. It was produced by the Clay Adams Company in American-occupied Japan. (Contributed photo)
An 1835 painter’s mannaquin from Italy in textiles, horse hair, metal and wood. (Contributed photo)
A crash test dummy from the 1960s is part of the “Care and Wear: Bodies Crafted for Harm and Healing” show at Calgary’s Esker Foundation art gallery. (Contributed photo)
