Join artists and storytellers for a special late-night opening of all three galleries to celebrate extraordinary collector Sir Henry Wellcome and the collecting instinct in so many of us. Why do we love to horde, treasure, catalogue and categorise?

Enjoy amazing and amusing tales from performance storytellers

Throughout the evening three acclaimed storytellers from the Crick Crack Club will perform spellbinding tales on the theme of collecting, inspired by objects in the galleries. Join them as they explore questions such as:
> Is the urge to collect natural or pathological? > Where does our desire to ‘complete the set’ come from?
> Are trophies needed to prove the truth of a tale or boast?
> You will find a storyteller in each of the galleries. Seek them out, ask them for their ideas and listen to their stories of the unusual and the unknown.

Contribute to two celebratory collections to mark our opening week

During the evening we will be playing favourite tracks compiled from personal music collections. To nominate your track to be included in this unique music collection, email events@wellcomecollection.org with the name of your chosen piece of music and tell us why it holds so much significance for you. Selected contributions will be used as part of an audiovisual performance by Silent Studios.

Join artist Gethan Dick and contribute words and phrases to her changing collection that best describe your body. What do your chosen words say about how you view your body? And will you reconsider your views in the light of others’ contributions?

The exhibition galleries, café and bookshop are open throughout this special evening, the first in a series of late-night, thematic events inspired by the collections.

Registration required:

No

Free:

Yes