A Flea’s Tumescence: Alan Blum, MD, on Exhibitions, Activism, Irony, and Collaboration

In November 2020, I spoke with Alan Blum, MD, scholar, collector, curator, exhibitor, activist, and director of the University Alabama Center for Study Tobacco Society (CSTS). He has been creating tobacco-themed exhibitions since 1980s—in brick-and-mortar as well digital settings—based on a prodigious collection tobacco-related artifacts. Before joining CSTS, founder Doctors Ought to Care, national organization concerned outspoken physicians, Blum satirized protested at tobacco industry–sponsored events. addition being an avid museumgoer, he closely follows industry’s sponsorship museums exhibitions. This article contains excerpts from our interview, addressing dynamism marketing, irony CSTS exhibitions, his recollections past what regards complicity other industries professions. Be advised that curates views expresses “may be hazardous people’s preconceptions.”