Spearheaded by founding Order member Megan Rosenbloom, University of Southern California Medical and Rare Books Librarian, Death Salon works, by its own mission statement:
“In the spirit of the eighteenth-century salon – informal coffeehouse gatherings of intellectuals – Death Salon encourages conversations on mortality and mourning and their resonating effects on our culture and history. We hold conferences, public events, and encourage an online community to increase discussion on this taboo subject.”
Death Salon UK at Barts Pathology Museum, April 2014. Photo by Megan Rosenbloom.
The founding members of the Order, and the many other death-focused academics, artists, and funeral professionals, do not want to see Death put in an ivory tower. After all, what topic could possibly be more universal in its impact?
Death Salon Cabaret in Los Angeles. Elli Papayanopoulos for Atlantic Magazine.
We are anxious to collaborate with each other to launch death and dying into the future. Even more, we want to share our work with a wider audience and hear what you think. Death Salon allows that sharing to happen, providing us the opportunity to offer talks and events that are open to the public.
Comedians Solomon Georgio and Megan Amram at Death Salon Getty Villa Live taping of The Deathpod podcast. Photo by Sarah Waldorf, The Getty.
The first Death Salon was held over three days in October 2013 in Los Angeles. Read more about the Salon in Erika Hayasaki’s piece in The Atlantic, “Death is Having a Moment.
Death Salon Social Media Director Sarah Chavez, Co-Founder Caitlin Doughty, Co-Founder & Director Megan Rosenbloom at Death Salon: San Francisco, October 11, 2014. This photo & background photography by David Orr
Since then, we’ve hosted a Death Salon in London, hosted our first one day event in San Francisco, partnered with the Getty Villa for Death Salon Getty Villa: From Ancient Necropolis to L.A.’s Metropolis and The Mutter Museum, and in 2016 we hosted our first Death Salon Film Festival.
If you are interested in learning more or getting involved, please visit the Death Salon website. You can also subscribe to the Death Salon mailing list and be among the first to get announcements about upcoming events and ticket sales.
Restaurant critic Jonathan Gold at Death Salon Getty Villa, April 2015. Photo by Sarah Waldorf, The Getty.