Observatory

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A room in a former box factory in Gowanus serves as something of a throwback to the eighteenth-century Age of Enlightenment, a period that valued the marriage of education and entertainment in spaces of “rational amusement.” Founded in 2009 by seven artists and writers from blogs like Morbid Anatomy, the white-walled arts and events space curates shows at the nexus of art, science, history, and nature, resulting in exhibits like the one inspired by HP Lovecraft, with themes of “monsters, madness, and mythos,” and “Entomologia,” a show of insect art. The main draws, however, are the multimedia lectures about subjects ranging from anatomical aberrations to botanical oddities found in the Ice Age bogs of New Jersey to one on a career in animation led by Bob Camp, the co-creator of Ren & Stimpy. — Vanita Salisbury

For all your taxidermy and medical artifacts needs, the adjacent Morbid Anatomy Library is available for research purposes, by appointment only. Email morbidanatomy@gmail.com.