Liminal > The Resurrectory
Presented at the Portland Art Center – May-June 2005
The Resurrectory was a simulated facility created by Liminal to investigate the scientific, social and metaphysical qualities of death throughout recent history (both real and fictional).
The staff of the Resurrectory primarily worked on tracing and reenacting the trafficking and sale of cadavers for scientific and commercial purposes by re-presenting the situations described in the court transcripts of the infamous Burke & Hare case of 1827-1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Why reenactment? Bruno Latour says it best: "Reenactment is not a mere facsimile of the original but a second version, or a second print of the first instance, allowing for the exploration of its originality."
While in operation, staff would present and re-present the murders of Burke & Hare's nine victims in order to learn more about what happened, their assailants and the path their bodies took after their death.
Simultaneously, a Resurrectory anatomist and four musicians presented a musical lecture (composed by John Berendzen) to describe the biological and metaphysical process of death for visitors in a makeshift operating theater that featured a three-dimensional instructional film created by Jim Blashfield.
The Resurrectory was housed in the Portland Art Center's original Belmont Street gallery space, which we transformed with hundreds of pounds of hay, dozens of Edison light bulbs, a “dispensary” of human ashes in the form of minimalist sculpture, and galleries of images and objects, that staff accumulated to document the ephemeral experience.
The Resurrectory’s motto: Dum spiro spero. As I breathe, I hope.
