High Society (mind altering drugs) Exhibition at the Wellcome Collection

Usually, having a bit of a wait at a train station means skulking around a coffee bar. But not always. I was recently left with a spare half hour whilst at Euston station and made a bee line for the free exhibition about mind altering drugs in society at The Wellcome Collection.

The exhibition is arranged into a number of areas: From apothecary to laboratory, the drugs trade, self-experimentation, collective intoxication and “a sin, a crime, a vice or a disease?” It’s not one that you want to take your kids along to – unless they are older teenagers and education is your aim.

The bright turquoise floor gives the whole show an “up in the air” feel and I was delighted that the excellent guides were provided free of charge. Obviously, some of the images are rather distressing – show girls injecting into their legs (“Morpinomane” by Eugene Samuel Grasset) and “Crack Den” by Keith Coventry. It was interesting to see the eclectic mix of medical science, botany, art history, popular culture (Easy Rider), psychology, literature, international anthropology and sociology come together to provide fundamentally different perspectives on such a controversial subject.

There were lighter moments though – I adored the huge installation “Frolic” by Huang Yong Ping taking almost an entire gallery, of a bong supported by trestle tables commenting on the politics (Lord Palmerston) of the opium wars. It was amusing too to read the early health leaflets and information about the prohibition. And, of course, the famous NASA experiments on the drug effects on spiders made an appearance.

I spent a while in the four screen video projection of “Afyon” by Mustafa Hulusi watching images of Turkish fields of poppies which I found surprisingly calming considering the subject matter. And I giggled a bit as I stood in the darkened space of “Dream Machine” by Brion Gysin absorbing the flickering orange light which was created with a record turntable and plastic and paper drum to produce a “drugless high”. There was another installation – looking very much like a large packing crate – which I wasn’t quite brave enough to enter, but the strains of the David Bowie-like music was audible throughout a large part of the exhibition.

My favourite pieces from my rather hurried tour was a large colourful photograph called “420 day at the University of Colorada” by Mark Leffingwell – the counterculture holiday that is the focus for the campaign to legalise cannabis. It’s a great crowd photo and you can’t help notice the haze from the group smoke-in. The other was John 5/22/59 – a small drawing by Fred Tomaselli. It looks like an innocent astrological star chart but was made by asking sitters to name their birthday and all the drugs they remember taking.

Opium, cocaine, morphine, hashish, fungi, LSD, mescaline, peyote, ecstacy – even alcohol, caffeine, over the counter painkillers and nicotine come under the spotlight. So something for everyone. As it was an impromptu visit I really didn’t have the time I needed to study all the exhibits in detail. But I’m not sure I’ll get back before the show ends on 27th February. A real downer.