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The future is weird: Jeff Vandermeer, science, ritual, and the strangeness of climate crisis – Dr Juni Kvarving – Zoom

The future is weird: Jeff Vandermeer, science, ritual, and the strangeness of climate crisis

Change is scary.

As we push ourselves past climate tipping points and end what once seemed like immutable normalities, weird fiction has made a notable comeback. Through the frightening weird ecologies of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series (the source material for the film Annihilation, dir. Alex Garland), this talk argues that leaning into both the horror and excitement of strangeness is key to addressing crises.

Guiding you through the strange roots of the weird literary tradition and drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, I argue that we can look to VanderMeer’s Area-X as a necessary confrontation with the limits of our reality. My talk will particularly focus on how his fiction inverts the uncanny and explores the way ritual, science and faith appears when faced with the Real. This weird aesthetic, what I call the eco-weird,models how we can come to terms with the horror of breaking our unsustainable reality so we can pursue a strange but better future—if we dare.

Speaker Bio:

Juni Kvarving is a researcher, writer, and editor. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Kent about the narrative aesthetics of climate emergency and tipping points in contemporary American utopian novels. Alongside her research, she co-directed the New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Network (NVPoco), worked at Wasafiri Magazine for International Contemporary Writing, edited for Holland House Books, and taught as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Kent and Course Instructor at CIEE London. Juni is currently interested in nostalgic aesthetics and the environment, and is co-editing a forthcoming special issue on “The American Dream/American Nightmare” with the European Journal of American Culture. Website: https://junikvarving.com/

Curated & Hosted By:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

In Search of Spirits & Crocodile Warriors – A Collecting Expedition to The Sepik River

Join our  28th Expedition & our 3rd Collecting Expedition  to Papua New Guinea’s Sepik

To Visit Remote Villages, Meet Crocodile Warriors & Sight Birds of Paradise!

 Papua New Guinea is indisputably the most culturally diverse country in the world, with over 860 languages, and well over 1,000 distinct cultures. It is a land of stunning mountains, spectacular wildlife and one of the world’s last intact systems of tribes, clans and rituals. In many remote villages across the country, first contact with the outside world is well within living memory.

This expedition takes you to one of the most remote and little visited parts of Papua New Guinea… the Sepik River. At 1,126 kilometres, the Sepik River is Papua New Guinea’s answer to the Amazon. It is the country’s longest river and is often referred to as Papua New Guinea’s ‘cultural heart’ because it is so rich and varied in its tribal cultures.

Following on from  Viktor Wynd’s 2018 & 2022 expeditions up the Sepik River, The Last Tuesday Society has developed this itinerary to focus on the most interesting villages that the Sepik River has to offer, and to venture even higher along the Upper Sepik to visit villages that are very seldom visited by outsiders. We will witness “sing sings” (gatherings of tribes for traditional dance and singing), as well as a mumu feast (involving cooking food on hot stones in an earth oven in traditional Polynesian style).

Life on the Sepik River, despite the best efforts of missionaries, is still dominated by Spirits, they are everywhere from The Haus Tambarans to the dark of night.  People can change their forms and be possessed, ancestors are still present, not dead like ours;  never far below the surface lies a society still very much involved with magic and ritual.  In this expedition we aim to spend as many evenings as possible with friends we made on our last expedition in their Spirit Houses, sitting quietly in the dark as they play on garamut drums and Sepik flutes,  watching and listening to the initiated, hearing them tell of their clans origin myths, of the spirits that surround them and of the time before first contact – still just within living memory.

During this 12 day trip, we travel by canoe to the Upper Sepik and Middle Sepik to visit villages with ancient beliefs and rituals. We will meet the famed crocodile men, known for their intricate crocodile-skin scarification marks. We will visit many varied and ancient Spirit Houses, and discover the Iatmul tribe’s mythologies of wayward spirits and animal gods that still hold sway over traditional village lifestyles.

Along our journey on the Sepik River, we will have many bird-watching opportunities (with good chances to see several birds of paradise), and we have the chance to spot diverse waterfowl as well as crocodiles on the Sepik River itself.

We will visit numerous villages for artefact buying opportunities, and may be allowed to go out with the crocodile warriors to observe their traditional livelihood of hunting crocodiles at night. Artefacts along the many (varied) villages along the Sepik River include exquisite wooden carvings (such as figures and masks), shields, spears, dancing sticks, stone tools, pottery, axes and traditional knives.

START POINT: Wewak, Papua New Guinea.

END POINT: Wewak, Papua New Guinea.

DATES: 4th – 16th November 2027 – please note the exact dates will be confirmed 6 months or so before to align with domestic and international flight schedules
GROUP SIZE: 6–10.

Email [email protected] for more information and to make bookings.

 

Provisional Itinerary – please note any itinerary in Papua New Guinea is always more of a wish list than a promise as conditions change.  As the Sepik is almost entirely a subsistence economy & has little if any tourist facilities  we will be taking all our food and sleeping materials in powerful boats – that gives us freedom and flexibility

Day 1. Arrive into Wewak.

Day. 2. Wewak to Pagwi and onto Kanganamun for the night. Welcome singing and evening in the Spirit House _ Haus Tambaran.

Day 3. Kanganamun onto Chambri Lakes. Sleep at Chambri after visiting the main Spirit House.

Day 4. Chambri village and onto beyond the Chambri lakes. To explore three very remote and unvisited villages. Village One.

Day 5. Village Two.

Day 6. Village Three.

Day 7. Return back up river and not the main Sepik River to Kimindibit village.

Day 8. Kimindibit & environs

.Day 9 Kimindibit & environs

Day 10. Explore MARAP or Torenbei villages 1, 2 and 3. Overnight.

Day 11. Up to Pagwi where the motorised private hire vehicle will take you all onto Wewak town.

Day 12. Fly out of Wewak ) have 2-3 days over on Kiereru Island, to the far side Guest house or another island setting.

Optional post – expedition extension:  after your Sepik Expedition  you can extend your stay by visiting the breathtakingly-beautiful Yuo Island (and other islands nearby) off the coast of Wewak. These volcanic and coralline islands offer spectacular treks, many WW2 war relics, birdwing butterflies, traditional way of life, excellent local food (including fresh lobster), world-class coral reefs snorkelling and even regular dolphins sightings. We also hope to be able to visit Vokeo – the famous island of Menstruating Men  more details once the trip is confirmed

The Final Portrait: A History of Death Masks with Nick Reynolds – LIVE

Please note this is NOT a ZOOM Lecture but an in person lecture. Tickets include a complimentary glass of Devil’s Botany Chocolate Absinthe. Doors open at 6:30pm and talk starts at 7pm

The Final Portrait: A History of Death Masks with Nick Reynolds

Nick Reynolds, a leading contemporary death‑mask artist, showcased in the National Portrait Gallery, offers a lavishly illustrated, concise and compelling journey through the history of this ancient craft. Known for casting the faces of diverse and notable figures—from foreign heads of state, Hollywood legends and even an executed prisoner.

In this vivid talk, he traces the evolution of the death mask across
cultures and centuries, enlivened by Nick’s highly entertaining
personal anecdotes. This is a rare opportunity to hear from one of the field’s most authoritative practitioners.

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The Absinthe Parlour at The Last Tuesday Society is London’s best award-winning alternative cocktail bar hidden within The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities. A drinker’s cabinet of wonder filled curious cocktails & extraordinary elixirs —The Last Tuesday Society’s Absinthe Parlour is truly a hidden treasure of East London. Opened by collectors, drinks historians & absinthe experts — Allison Crawbuck (Brooklyn) & Rhys Everett (London) in 2016, the duo bring with them a shared passion for the mysterious world of spirits & the macabre.

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Devil’s Botany
From their East London distillery, Devil’s Botany makes absinthe the way it should be: bold, flavour-forward, and devilishly good to drink. As the UK’s first dedicated absinthe distillery, they’re bringing a famously misunderstood spirit back to life for a new generation of absinthe drinkers. Founded by owners of The Absinthe Parlour at The Last Tuesday Society, Devil’s Botany celebrates the spirit’s unruly connection to art, literature, magic & mixology.

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Event is suitable for 18+ over only. Please contact [email protected] with any questions, allergies or dietary requirements. Refunds for in-person events are only possible up to 7 days prior to the event date.

dorothea tanning

Surrealist pioneer Dorothea Tanning celebrated in new exhibition at Viktor Wynd

 

Exhibition opening and book signing on 3 June

RSVP HERE

 

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History are jumping up and down with excitement as they  announce an exhibition celebrating the work of Dorothea Tanning, opening to the public from 4 June to 13 September 2026.

This major presentation will be the largest exhibition of Tanning’s prints ever staged in London, bringing together a remarkable selection of rarely seen works drawn both from the museum’s collection and a significant private Cornish collection, alongside a curated group of posters that illuminate her enduring visual imagination. (Quite a few of the works normally hang in Viktor Wynd’s bedroom)

About Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012) was a pioneering figure of 20th-century Surrealism, known for her psychologically charged imagery, dreamlike interiors, and unsettling transformations of the everyday. Though often associated with her early paintings, Tanning’s printmaking forms a vital and dynamic part of her oeuvre. Her prints—ranging from etchings to lithographs—reveal a meticulous attention to line, texture, and narrative ambiguity, offering viewers intimate access to her evolving artistic language across decades.

The works on display traverse Tanning’s fascination with metamorphosis, identity, and the subconscious: Figures dissolve into space, fabrics ripple into uncanny forms, and domestic settings become sites of quiet dislocation. The accompanying posters for her own shows further demonstrate how her visual vocabulary extended beyond the gallery, translating her surreal sensibility into bold, graphic compositions that retain both elegance and unease. The exhibition is part of long running series over the last 20 years dedicated to highlighting great 20th century female artists. Previous exhibitions have been dedicated to Leonora Carrington, Ithell Colquhoun and Maeve Gilmore. Future exhibitions are planned of Madge Gill and Grace Pailthorpe.

Opening Reception and Book Launch

An opening reception will be held on 3 June 2026 from 6 to 8pm, offering guests an exclusive first view of the exhibition. This special evening will also celebrate the presence of Alyce Mahon, who will be signing copies of her newly released monograph Dorothea Tanning: A Surrealist World (Yale University Press, 2026).

Alyce Mahon is an internationally respected art historian and leading authority on Surrealism, whose research has significantly shaped contemporary understanding of women artists within the movement. Her new study of Dorothea Tanning offers a deeply researched and vividly written account of the artist’s life and work, drawing on previously unpublished archival material and her work as guest curator of the first major exhibition of Tanning for the Reina Sofia Museum and Tate Modern during 2018-2019. The book provides fresh insight into Tanning’s creative evolution, making it an essential companion to this exhibition and a major contribution to Surrealist scholarship.

Tales from the Time Between Times – Owen Staton – Zoom

Tales from the Time Between Times

When the veil thins and the night presses close, when the wind moves like a whisper through the trees and the firelight dances with a life of its own… that is when the old stories wake.

Come, draw nearer to the firepit at the heart of the forest, where shadows stretch long and the past is never truly past. Here, storyteller Owen Staton invites you into that liminal hour — the time between times — where myth and memory walk hand in hand.

Hear the hollow laughter of the Mari Lwyd as she rattles her skull at the threshold. Catch a fleeting glimpse of the Tylwyth Teg, fair and terrible, watching from just beyond the circle of light. And listen… closely… for even the Devil himself is said to wander these woods when the darkness is at its deepest.

These are not just stories. They are echoes. Warnings. Invitations.

An evening of Welsh ghost lore, rich with atmosphere, humour, and a creeping sense of something older than the land itself — told as only Owen Staton can tell it.

The fire is waiting.
The night is listening.
All that remains… is for you to step into the dark.

Speaker Bio:

Owen Staton is a Welsh storyteller and performer with over thirty years’ experience bringing the myths and legends of Wales to life for audiences across the world. As host of the acclaimed Time Between Times podcast, he has built a reputation for weaving atmosphere, humour, and a touch of the uncanny into every tale. Now in his fifty-third year, Owen continues to travel the old paths of story… though his hair, by his own admission, remains entirely beyond his control.

Curated & Hosted by:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

The Yule Lads: Tricksters, Terrors, and the Dark Christmas of Iceland – Lena Heide-Brennand – Zoom

The Yule Lads: Tricksters, Terrors, and the Dark Christmas of Iceland

In Iceland, Christmas does not arrive quietly.

It comes creeping down from the mountains—one figure at a time.

The thirteen Yule Lads, now often softened into mischievous gift-bringers, were once something far less comforting: a band of strange, intrusive beings who descended upon farms in the darkest nights of winter. Each with their own unsettling habits—slamming doors, licking spoons, stealing food—they moved through the household not as welcome guests, but as presences to be endured.

Behind them loomed their mother, Grýla, a monstrous figure said to hunt disobedient children and boil them alive. And beyond her, the vast, silent threat of the Yule Cat, who stalked the snowy landscape in search of those without new clothes to wear.

This lecture explores the darker origins of the Yule Lads within Icelandic folklore: their connection to older troll traditions, their role in seasonal discipline and social control, and the gradual transformation of these figures under the influence of modern Christmas traditions. Through folklore, literature, and cultural history, we will trace how fear, humour, and survival intertwine in one of the most unique festive traditions in the world.

Why thirteen? Why do they arrive one by one? And what do their strange behaviours reveal about life in a harsh and isolated landscape?

This is not the story of Christmas cheer.It is the story of what comes down from the mountains when the nights are longest—and the world feels most fragile.

Speaker Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Vampires Before Dracula: Disease, Panic, and the Management of the Undead – Lena Heide-Brennand – Zoom

Vampires Before Dracula: Disease, Panic, and the Management of the Undead

Long before Dracula gave the vampire a cloak, a castle, and a seductive gaze, the undead were something far more troubling: a practical problem.

In the villages of Eastern and Central Europe, the dead did not always stay buried. Bodies were said to rise, to feed, to return to their families—not as spirits, but as flesh that would not decay properly. Livestock sickened. Children wasted away. Entire households fell ill. And in response, communities acted—not with superstition, but with a grim, methodical logic.

This talk explores the historical phenomenon of the so-called “vampire panics” of the 17th and 18th centuries, when officials, clergy, and physicians were drawn into investigations of the undead. Corpses were exhumed and examined. Reports were written. Remedies were prescribed. The boundary between folklore, medicine, and early science began to blur in unsettling ways.

Why did certain bodies become vampires? What did people actually see when they opened the grave? And how did disease—particularly those that distort the body in death—shape the belief that the dead were feeding on the living?

From stakes driven through the heart to sickles laid across the throat, from garlic and fire to the careful repositioning of the corpse, this lecture reveals the ritual technologies developed to contain the restless dead. These were not random acts of fear, but structured responses to a world in which death itself seemed unstable.

Drawing on historical case studies, medical misunderstandings, and the anthropology of death, this talk repositions the vampire not as a figure of gothic romance, but as something far older and more disturbing: a body that refuses to behave.

Because before the vampire became seductive, it was unmanageable.

Speaker Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Green Hour x Devil’s Botany for Hackney Altfest

Devil's Botany Absinthe

Kickstart your Hackney Altfest crawl with Green Hour Devil’s Botany specials at The Absinthe Parlour

Devil’s Botany Hackney Altfest Green Hour menu will be available Saturday 9th May 12:00-15:00

Book a table via: link here

Hackney Altfest: 4-10 May 2026
A week-long festival celebrating Hackney’s growing alternative, underground and dive bar scene
See hackneyaltfest.com for the festival map and event programming.
Hackney Altfest is a seven-day cultural festival celebrating the borough’s best alternative venues — where underground music, esoteric practice, experimental art, craft drinks, and dive-bar cultures intersect. Across the festival week, each venue will host a curated programme of daytime and evening events that highlight its unique contribution to Hackney’s alternative community. Expect bands, DJs, talks, tours, tastings, workshops, food and more!

Devil’s Botany
From their East London distillery, Devil’s Botany makes absinthe the way it should be: bold, flavour-forward, and devilishly good to drink. As the UK’s first dedicated absinthe distillery, they’re bringing a famously misunderstood spirit back to life for a new generation of absinthe drinkers. Founded by owners of The Absinthe Parlour at The Last Tuesday Society, Devil’s Botany celebrates the spirit’s unruly connection to art, literature, magic & mixology.

Hackney Altfest

Doommersive x Devil’s Botany Takeover for Hackney Altfest

Head to The Absinthe Parlour on Friday 8th May for a Doommersive x Devil’s Botany takeover with Chockie Tom for Hackney Altfest.

Expect an evening of Doom & Stoner Metal tunes paired with thoughtful tropical tiki cocktails with a purpose.

Chockie Tom is an Indigenous storyteller, bartender, and drinks writer working at the intersection of hospitality, labor, and culture. Proudly Numu (Paiute) and Pomo, she brings an Indigenous perspective to storytelling within the drinks industry. With more than twenty years behind the bar, she has worked in Los Angeles and New York and is now based in London. She is the founder of Doommersive and the creator of The Cornsilk Road.

From their East London distillery, Devil’s Botany makes absinthe the way it should be: bold, flavour-forward, and devilishly good to drink. As the UK’s first dedicated absinthe distillery, they’re bringing a famously misunderstood spirit back to life for a new generation of absinthe drinkers. Founded by owners of The Absinthe Parlour at The Last Tuesday Society, Devil’s Botany celebrates the spirit’s unruly connection to art, literature, magic & mixology.

Hackney Altfest: 4-10 May 2026
A week-long festival celebrating Hackney’s growing alternative, underground and dive bar scene
See hackneyaltfest.com for the festival map and event programming.
Hackney Altfest is a seven-day cultural festival celebrating the borough’s best alternative venues — where underground music, esoteric practice, experimental art, craft drinks, and dive-bar cultures intersect. Across the festival week, each venue will host a curated programme of daytime and evening events that highlight its unique contribution to Hackney’s alternative community. Expect bands, DJs, talks, tours, tastings, workshops, food and more!

Devil’s Botany Absinthe Tasting for Hackney Altfest

Devil’s Botany Absinthe Tasting at The Absinthe Parlour for HACKNEY ALTFEST

Explore the wicked world of absinthe at The Last Tuesday Society with a Thursday night tasting for Hackney Altfest.

Tickets include:
🍸 a Devil’s Botany London Absinti
🧚 a glass of Devil’s Botany Absinthe Regalis served with the fountain
🥃 a glass of Devil’s Botany Chocolate Absinthe Liqueur.
To finish, guests will be invited to explore the collection in the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities.

Tasting & masterclass starts at 19:00.

Hackney Altfest: 4-10 May 2026
A week-long festival celebrating Hackney’s growing alternative, underground and dive bar scene
See hackneyaltfest.com for the festival map and event programming.
Hackney Altfest is a seven-day cultural festival celebrating the borough’s best alternative venues — where underground music, esoteric practice, experimental art, craft drinks, and dive-bar cultures intersect. Across the festival week, each venue will host a curated programme of daytime and evening events that highlight its unique contribution to Hackney’s alternative community. Expect bands, DJs, talks, tours, tastings, workshops, food and more!

The Absinthe Parlour
Opened in 2016 by Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett—founders of Devil’s Botany, the UK’s first absinthe distillery—The Absinthe Parlour at The Last Tuesday Society is a labyrinth of cocktails & curiosities. After a glass of the green fairy, descend into the depths of the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities. Explore a basement filled with the bizarre and the beautiful, including unicorns, mermaids, two-headed lambs, magical soaps, and skeleton fairies.

Devil’s Botany is the UK’s first absinthe distillery, founded by Directors of The Last Tuesday Society’s Absinthe Parlour & Cocktail Bar. Celebrating spirit’s connection to art, literature, magic & mixology, Devil’s Botany is unleashing the future of absinthe with bold expressions for the adventurous drinkers of today.

Event is suitable for 18+ over only. Please contact [email protected] with any questions, allergies or dietary requirements. Refunds for in-person events are only possible up to 7 days prior to the event date.