Frankenstein@200 Legacy
Stanford Frankenstein@200 initiative logo was designed by Stanford medical student Ryan Brewster
The drawing on the right was a Kindergarten student's response to Frankentstein during a Frankenstein@200 party. (>>>)
Education & Events
INDE 212: The interdisciplinary field of medical humanities: the use of the arts and humanities to examine medicine in personal, social, and cultural contexts. Topics include the doctor/patient relationship, the patient perspective, the meaning of doctoring, and the meaning of illness. Sources include visual and performing arts, film, and literary genres such as poetry, fiction, and scholarly writing. Designed for medical students in the Biomedical Ethics and Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration, but all students are welcome.
Terms: Spr | Units: 2 | Grading: Medical Satisfactory/No Credit
Instructors: Shafer, A. (PI)
This seminar will explore the vast array of horror comics. How does horror work in comics, as distinct from prose and cinema? How and why are non-moving images scary? The different narrational strategies of short stories, self-contained works, and continuing series will be explored, as will American, Japanese, and European approaches. Special attention will be given to Frankenstein, in novel, film, illustration, and comics. Example of such sub-genres as literary horror, horrific superheroes, cosmic (Lovecraftian) horror, ecological horror, as well as the horrors of bodies, sexuality, and adolescence will be encountered.nnStudents will read many comics, some comics theory, and will do an in-class presentation on a comic or topic of their choosing. The course is a seminar, so discussion will be continuous and required. Enrollment limited.
Terms: not given this year, last offered Spring 2018 | Units: 5 | Grading: Letter (ABCD/NP)
The human simulacrum has a long history in mythology, fairy tales and children¿s stories, as well as in the genres of horror and science fiction. This course explores synthetic human narratives in the cinema. Stories of artificially created life, living statues, automata, body snatchers, robots, cyborgs and electronic simulations all direct our attention to our assumed definitions of the human.The fantasies and anxieties that undergird these stories engage with such issues as labor, gender, sexuality, death, emotion, rationality, embodiment, consumerism, reproductive technologies, and power relations. Attention will also be given the relation of cinema¿s human simulacra to changing cinematic technologies. Films will include Metropolis, Pinocchio, Robocop, Bride of Frankenstein, The Golem, A.I., My Fair Lady, Her, Blade Runner, and the HBO iteration of Westworld. Readings will include essays, as well as some fiction and possibly comics.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | Grading: Letter (ABCD/NP)
Instructors: Bukatman, S. (PI)
Frankestein@200 Film Series: Fall Series Poster
This workshop aims to bring together scholars from the social sciences, humanities, medicine and bio-science and technology to explore the ways that health and illness are made through complex social forces. We aim for informal, interactive sessions, full of debate and good will. Dates of meetings will be listed in the notes section in the time schedule.
Terms: not given this year | Units: 1 | Repeatable for credit | Grading: Satisfactory/No Credit
Culture, Minds, and Medicine Flyer: Fall 2017 I Spring 2018
The 2018 International Health Humanities Consortium Conference will be held at Stanford University from April 20-22, 2018.
A celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through an
exploration of medically-based ethical dilemmas and an examination of the
relevance of Frankenstein in moral imagination today.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Alexander Nemerov
Professor, Art and Art History at Stanford University
Lester Friedman
Professor, Media and Society at Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Alvan Ikoku
Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature and Medicine at Stanford University
Catherine Belling
Associate Professor, Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University
Hippocrates Cafe
Friday, April 20, 2018
Related Publications
Belling, Catherine. (2018). A Year of Frankenstein. Literature and Medicine 36(2), 261-263. Johns Hopkins University Press
Kavey, A. B. & Friedman, L. D. (2018). Introduction: Chemistry, Disability, and Frankenstein. Literature and Medicine 36(2), 264-268. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Holmes, M. S. (2018). Born This Way: Reading Frankenstein with Disability. Literature and Medicine 36(2), 372-387. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Webster, A. (2018). Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad: A Tale of Biomedical Salvation. Literature and Medicine 36(2), 439-463. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Garland-Thomson, R. (2018). Far from the Tree: Choreographies of Family Obligation in the Ballet of Frankenstein. Literature and Medicine 36(2), 464-494. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Frankestein@200 Film Series: Fall Series Poster I Winter Series Poster
Winter Series: Documentary Film Screening with Panel Discussion After
Dr. Maren Monsen will be the moderator.
- 01/23/2018 - FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement
Regan Brashear, Producer/Director/Editor
Kelly Ormand, PhD Genetic Counselling
Paul Nuyujukian MD, PhD Assistant Prof, Bioengineering and Neurosurgery
Salli Tazuke, MD Medical Director, SF Bay Area Center of Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine
Fernanda Castelo, Film subject, device consultant - 02/13/2018 - Stem Cell Revolutions
Henry Greely, JD Director, Stanford Center for Law and the Bioscience, Professor (by courtesy) of Genetics
Documentary Film Screening with Panel Discussion
Sergiu Pasca, MD Assistant Prof Psychiatry, Director, Stanford Neurosciences Institute Stem Cells Core
David DiGiusto, PhD, Executive Director of Laboratory for Gene Medicine, Executive team member Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine
Gary K. Steinberg MD, PhD Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery and Professor (by courtesy) of Neurology, Co-Director of the Stanford Stroke Center - 03/08/2018 Lo And Behold
Karola Kreitmair, PhD, Biomedical Ethics
Steve Asch MD, heads the center for Innovation to Implementation at VA
Saman Farid, AI investor for Baidu (founder and former director of Comet Labs incubator)
Life/Art/Science/Technology (LAST) Festival
March 23 - 24, 2018
Location: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Humanity, technology join hands in Life/Art/Science/Tech Festival at SLAC, Stanford News
Leonardo Art/Science Evening Rendezvous - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The First 200 Years
Audrey Shafer, MD
Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Thursday February 15, 2018 @ 7 pm
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An Evening with Rebecca Skloot and members of Henrietta Lacks Family
April 19, 2018 @ 7:30 - 9:30 pm
CEMEX Auditorium
Scope, 04/24/2018
-- Listen to the human stories, the Henrietta Lacks family tells scientists
Stanford News, 05/02/2018
-- Descendants of Henrietta Lacks discuss her famous cell line
Philosophy Talk
Tuesday February 27 @ 7:30 pm
CEMEX Auditorium
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein raises powerful questions about the responsibilities of scientists to consider the impact of their inventions on the world. Are these questions as relevant now as they were 200 years ago? What insights, if any, should today’s technologists and disrupters glean from Shelley's story? What does it mean to take responsibility for one’s scientific or technological innovations? And what role should university educators play in ensuring that no new monsters are unleashed onto the world? The hosts have a monstrously fun conversation with Persis Drell, Provost and former Dean of Engineering from Stanford University.
Another Look: Frankenstein
Bechtel Conference Center in Encina Hall
January 24 @ 7:30 pm
Another Look will focus on the book as a literary work: a flowering of the romantic imagination, as well as a pioneering landmark in science fiction.
02/05/2018, Another Look
--Frankenstein@Stanford: excellent company and an unforgettable book on a very rainy night!
Photo Credit: Harrison Truong
The first piece was a duet with Chris Costanza on cello (who was the music director of the whole event) and medical student Kevin Sun on the piano. The singer was Nathaniel Sullivan.
A Conversation with Karen Joy Fowler
October 5, 2017 - 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Fowler is one of several authors this year, who will speak about their work in relation to ethics and science fiction.
After her reading, Karen will be in conversation with Scott Hutchins (Creative Writing).
A Conversation with Aimee Bender
April 30, 2018 - 7:00pm to 8:30pm
This event is part of the Frankenstein 200 series at Stanford. Bender will be in conversation with Jones Lecturers and former Stegner Fellows in fiction, Kate Peterson and Mark Labowskie.
What the Future Holds: In Conversation with Walter Mosley
After a short reading by Mosley, he will be in conversation with Mia Birdsong, community activist and director of Family Story. Topics will include Mosley's views on writing, the state of the union, and his approaches for imagining the future. A Q&A will follow the conversation and books will be available for purchase and signing.
Betray the Secret: Humanity in the Age of Frankenstein
BETRAY THE SECRET: Gallery Talks
Ruth Levison Halperin Gallery
Co-curator of the exhibition Betray the Secret: Humanity in the Age of 'Frankenstein' Elizabeth Mitchell, Burton and Deedee McMurtry Curator and director of the Curatorial Fellowship Program, will explore different facets of the exhibition in gallery talks.
WED, MAY 16, 2PM
Body Work: Representing Physicians, Surgeons, and Resurrection Men
A closer look at the representation of medical men, philosophers, and the spaces in which they work.
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WED, MAY 30, 2PM
Science, the Body, and the Artist's Imagination
Explore artists' representations of science and their use of the body as a subject.
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FRI, APRIL 6 @ 8:30 PM
Poetry readings from Medicine and the Muse/Pegasus Physician Writers:
Emily Liu – medical student
Harika Kottakota – undergraduate
Michelle Liu, MD – fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Divya Chander, MD, PhD – faculty
Audrey Shafer, MD – faculty
NEWS
04/18/2018 - "Humanity in the Age of 'Frankenstein'"
05/16/2018 - A galvanizing exhibit explores issues raised by Frankenstein
VIDEO
Youtube
Photography Credit: Johnna Arnold
Is AI the New Frankenstein? With Ken Goldberg
Tueasday, April 17 @ 5 pm
Levinthall Hall
11th Annual CISL Symposium
The 11th Annual CISL Symposium, held on April 18, 2018 at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, brought together like-minded simulation professionals, and partners from the communities of healthcare clinicians and educators in one place to discuss pertinent issues in simulation-based education and research.
This year’s keynote by David M. Gaba MD, Associate Dean for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning, commemorated the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Dr. Gaba’s presentation, Simulation in Healthcare – What is a Monster?, examined themes triggered by the book that are mirrored in simulation; this talk was one of many events held this year at Stanford as part of “Frankenstein@200”.
During the morning session, CISL also convened a panel to discuss the ways in which virtual and augmented reality are being used at Stanford to educate students, professionals, and patients. The panel presentation titled: Virtual Creatures at Stanford Medicine - Current and Near Future VR-based Immersive Learning, included the following topics:
Using AR/VR in Anatomy Education
- Sakti Srivastava, MDDB, MS, Director, Anatomy
Virtual Reality Congenital Heart Disease Training and Education: The Stanford Virtual Heart
- David M. Axelrod, MD, Associate Professor, Pediatrics-Cardiology
Virtual Creatures at Stanford Medicine – Current and Near Future VR-based Immersive Learning in Neurosurgery
- Harminder Singh, MD, FACS, FAANS, Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
Virtual Reality at CISL: The Implementation of SimX
- David M. Gaba, MD, Susan Eller, MSN, RN CHSE, John Fell, BA, CHSOS
NOTE: Presentations are available to view via streaming video (password required/Chrome is preferred browser):
Keynote Presentation: Simulation in Healthcare - What is a Monster?
VR Panel Presentations: Virtual Creatures at Stanford Medicine - Current and Near Future VR-based Immersive Learning
During the afternoon workshop, The Fiends of Fidelity - Making Monsters, Mannequins and Moulage, The CISL team, led by simulationist John Fell, Director of the Standardized Patient Program Karen Thomson Hall, and Assistant Dean Susan Eller, presented ways to augment immersive learning exercises using mannequin moulage/adjuncts for physical cueing, or the representation of patients or other roles by Standardized Patient Actors for emotional cueing.
Dr. Gaba closed out the day leading a tour of the Hon Mai & Joseph Goodman Immersive Learning Center (ILC), Stanford’s state-of-the-art facility equipped with resources for a wide range of immersive and simulation-based learning activities for learners of all levels, from medical students to experienced practitioners.
BECOMING FRANKENSTEIN: OUR RISKY ASPIRATIONS
A Writers Forum featuring Pegasus Physician Writers
Moderator: James Lock, MD, PhD
January 18, 2018; 6 pm – 7 pm
Stanford Humanities Center
Free and open to the public
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01/26/2018, SCOPE Blog
-- Smoke and Mirrors: Writing that commemorates Fankenstein
Publications, News & Media
Shafer A. “A spark of being”: Frankenstein and anesthesiology. Canadian J Anesthesia. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12630-019-01376-x https://rdcu.be/bykN3 2019
Hyperrhiz, Winter 2019
-- Videographic Frankenstein, AN EXHIBITION OF CREATIVE AND SCHOLARLY VIDEO
10/23/2018, SCOPE Blog
-- A deeper look at ‘Reflecting Frankenstein’
10/23/2018, JAMA Network
-- Medicine and Frankenstein—An Artistic Commemoration of the Novel’s Bicentennia
06/26/2018, SCOPE Blog
-- MS1 and done: Wrapping up my first year of medical school
06/14/2018, KQED
-- 'Frankenstein' 200 Years Later: The Creature and Its Creator
06/08/2018, SCOPE Blog
-- Laser art installation commemorates Frankenstein
05/16/2018, SCOPE Blog (Ongoing Exhbit)
-- A galvanizing exhibit explores issues raised by Frankenstein
05/02/2018, Stanford News
-- Descendants of Henrietta Lacks discuss her famous cell line
04/18/2018 MetroActive
- "Humanity in the Age of 'Frankenstein'"
04/05/2018, Stanford Medicine News Center (Ongoing Exhibit)
--Mixed-media mosaics of the human body, inspired by Frankenstein
CBC Radio - White Coat, Black Art w/ host Dr. Brian Goldman
-- Frankenstein 101: What the monster teaches medical students w/ Audrey Shafer
Stanford Medicine
-- Why Frankenstein matters (By: Audrey Shafer)
03/02/2018, Stanford Arts Blog
-- Humanity, technology join hands in Life/Art/Science/Tech Festival at SLAC
02/05/2018, Another Look
--Frankenstein@Stanford: excellent company and an unforgettable book on a very rainy night!
01/23/2018, The Six Fifty
-- Frankenstein@200: Stanford explores the futurism of a centuries-old novel
10/28/2017, Stanford Radio
- Frankenstein's Impact on Science with guest Audrey Shafer (Interviewed by Russ Altman)
Grant Recipients
With the support of Frankenstein@200 grant, we were able to modify human heart muscle gene and understand its role in disease using induced pluripotent stem cells. Our project for the first time demonstrates how genome editing technique CRISPR with induced pluripotent stem cell technology could be used to understand the genetic role of cardiovascular diseases. We first examined the DNA of 54 healthy people with no clinical history of cardiac disease using amplicon-based DNA sequencing, and found a few mutations on those genes associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and found disease-related mutation in one healthy individual. Next, we took this individual's blood cells and turned them into induced pluripotent stem cells. We then differentiated the stem cells into cardiomyocytes and performed a comprehensive analysis to evaluate the cell function. We also used CRISPR to edit this variant to determine exactly how harmful the variant. This study demonstrated the application of CRISPR and iPSC techniques in understanding disease-related genetic mutations. This work has been published at the Circulation: Determining the Pathogenicity of a Genomic Variant of Uncertain Significance Using CRISPR/Cas9 and Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Circulation. 2018;CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032273, originally published June 18, 2018. This work also received attentions from public media including CNN.com and MedicalXpress.com.
Videographic Frankenstein
Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818, Videographic Frankenstein reflects on the novel’s visual legacy across more than a century of adaptation in film, television, and other media. The exhibition foregrounds scholarly and creative work that utilizes digital video for a self-reflexive analysis of moving-image media. This self-reflexive methodology is particularly appropriate for the study of Frankenstein and its many cinematic adaptations: the cinema itself works by stitching together “dead” photographic traces of the past to “animate” its hybrid compositions, and it can therefore be regarded as a “Frankensteinian” technology in its own right.
Jason Mittell Lecture - October 10, 2018
News
Homo Ex Machina
What constitutes identity? What do we owe those who love us? What do we owe ourselves?
Charlie is a brilliant scientist whose life is upended when she is diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease that leaves her stuttering, shaking, and forgetful. Selflessly, Charlie's wife, Maggie, plunges into her new role as caretaker, and over the years both settle into their new identities. When Charlie finds out about an experimental neurostimulation brain implant she immediately agrees to the procedure. The transformation Charlie undergoes, however, is more than either she or Maggie have bargained for.
Impelled by the manipulative neurologist Ava and the adoring graduate student Tyler, Maggie and Charlie are pushed to their breaking points. As they negotiate the problematic gift of Charlie's Faustian bargain, they must each confront themselves in ways that are excruciating and disorienting. Entangled in each others identities, the lives of Charlie and Maggie crescendo into a devastating climax that renders everything changed and nothing capable of being how it was before.
Press
Frankenstein@200
dermatology inspired works created for the 2018 International Health Humanities Conference, themed "Frankenstein@200"
Press
10/23/2018, JAMA Network
-- Medicine and Frankenstein—An Artistic Commemoration of the Novel’s Bicentennia
The Frankenstein GRID: Stanford's Monster of Modern Science
The Frankenstein GRID is Stanford's very own monster of modern science, in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For just over a week, the monument stands outdoors (and 20ft tall) to celebrate and critique the life of science. GRID is a symbolic lattice of laser beams that also supports waterscreen projection and a surround sound environment. Over twenty-five artists, some of whom are also practicing research scientists, have contributed video and audio compositions.
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May 31 - Self
June 1 - Extent
June 2 - Metamorphosis
June 5 - Forms
June 6 - Narrative
June 7 - Domain
June 8 - Frankenstein
June 9 - Stitches+++
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Videos From Technical Tests
Press
As described in my proposal, my project examines what it means to be human and reflects on the gory fascination with the human body as a work of art itself to be studied and recreated through creative media. Although I hope to present human anatomy academically and therefore accurately, I am also taking artistic liberty with the composition and the subject’s personal features in order to comply with privacy policies, to reduce more visually gruesome elements, and to focus on the narrative framework and concept of my work.
In my two acrylic paintings, the isolated fragments of objects once living are brought to life using realistic elements indicative of vitality, from physical gesture to the level of discoloration or oxygenation. The musical instrument in both pieces also acts as a bridge between life and death, and shapes the narrative framework of still lives that otherwise lack context.
I have made various alterations to my reference images for my painting of the head prosection. My painting portrays a rotated version of the original figure. Rather than rest the head horizontally on a green surgical mat, I depicted the figure upright with an imaginary cello scroll to show musicality. I have also completely altered the hues and saturation, transforming the cooler, yellow tones to warmer, red tones in order to emphasize the idea of breathing life into the dead. There is also greater contrast between the highlights and shadows. The wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, and mouth are all strongly accentuated in order to make up for the high exposure from the glaring lights in the dissection lab, and to enhance the details for realism. Facial features are all horizontally stretched. I have added facial hair, and will be adding more teeth.
Overall, my two paintings fit together to depict a single cellist. The combination of inanimate fragments, and what I consider to be the most expressive, dynamically ranged string instrument, symbolizes the breathing of life into a musician.