animate!

Films : The Phantom Museum – Random Forays into Sir Henry Wellcome’s Medical Collection : all

animate! synopsis

Sir Henry Wellcome (1853–1936) amassed one of the world’s largest museum collections, capturing human culture and history through medical eyes. The Phantom Museum uses animation to imaginatively ‘document’ this extraordinary assemblage and simultaneously reveal an extremely beautiful yet odd inner cosmos of things.

one sentence synopsis

The Phantom Museum provides a random foray and idiosyncratic journey through the bizarre private medical collection of Sir Henry Wellcome.

short synopsis

The Phantom Museum was supported by the Wellcome Trust for inclusion in their exhibition on Henry Wellcome’s unique collection, staged at the British Museum during June–November 2003. The website for this Medicine Man exhibition provides two streamed extracts from the film.

long synopsis

The Phantom Musem provides a random foray and idiosyncratic journey through the bizarre private medical collection of Sir Henry Wellcome and in particular that part kept by the Science Museum at Blythe House.

The film plays with an idea that all passionate museum visitors know to be true: that the objects become even more interesting after the last visitor has left the gallery.

key credits

director: The Quay Brothers
librarian: Steven Quay
animation: The Quay Brothers
music: Gary Tarn
producer: Keith Griffiths

The Quay Brothers

biography

Timothy and Stephan Quay come from Philadelphia but have lived in London since 1977, making animated films plus, in 1994, the live-action feature The Institute Benjamenta . Their recent In Absentia , a collaboration with Karlheinz Stockhausen, has garnered a great number of prizes.

They have also designed for the theatre, including work for English National Opera, Theatre de Complicité and the Royal National Theatre.

March 2003

a film by The Quay Brothers

direction

director: The Quay Brothers

cast in picture

librarian: Steven Quay

image personnel

animation: The Quay Brothers

sound personnel

music: Gary Tarn

production personnel

producer: Keith Griffiths

support

additional financial support: Supported by the Wellcome Trust
primary funding: An animate! production through Finetake for Arts Council England and Channel 4