The revelation of the sublime in the human body. An exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome

Sublime Anatomies is a group exhibition of contemporary and twentieth-century art on the revelation of the sublime in the human body, between past and present and at the intersection of artistic practices and scientific endeavors. A centuries-old and spectacular history of the observation of the body that involves primarily the senses (primarily sight and touch), but also tools and technologies. Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome will host, from Oct. 22, 2019 to Jan. 6, 2020, works, artifacts and documents of extraordinary historical importance that, between art and science, recount the evolution of human anatomy in close dialogue with contemporary artistic research on the materiality of the body.

Starting from the suggestion of anatomical theater, the rotunda of Palazzo delle Esposizioni will be transformed into a space dedicated to debate on the vision and construction of the body image, but also into a life drawing workshop and a real scene for performance. Substituting living models for corpses, this device will become, for the duration of the exhibition, a tool intended to elicit dynamics of eye, hand and body activation.

The mise en abîme of the anatomical theater, then, is not only intended to restore centrality to the sensitive body but proposes to overturn the relationships that, within the exhibition space, are established between the observed and the observer.

The six rooms radiating from the theater will return the history of the observed body in the arts and sciences with a selection of objects and documents of great historical-scientific and historical-artistic value, such as the precious nineteenth-century anatomical mannequins made in papier-mâché by Louis Thomas Jerome Auzoux, the anatomical plates printed in four-color by Jacques-Fabien Gautier-Dagoty or the ceroplasts by Filippo Pacini. The path will cross the history of anatomy with contemporary artistic research, exhibiting works by artists such as Berlinde De Bruyckere, Birgit Jürgenssen, Chen Zhen, Dany Danino, Dennis Oppenheim, Diego Perrone, Ed Atkins, Gary Hill, Gastone Novelli, Giuseppe Penone, Heidi Bucher, John Isaacs, Ketty La Rocca, Luca Francesconi, Marc Quinn, Marisa Merz, Michaël Borremans, Pino Pascali, Sissi, and Yvonne Rainer.

For all information you can visit the official website of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

Pictured: Femme vue de dos, disséquée de la nuque au sacrum, dite l’Ange anatomique. Planche non reliée, provenant de Jacques Fabien Gautier d’Agoty, "Mytologie complète en couleur et grandeur naturelle, " Paris, 1746. Bibliothèque Inter-Universitaire Santé Médecine, Paris

The revelation of the sublime in the human body. An exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome

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