The Modern Spirit Is Vivisective
The Modern Spirit Is Vivisective ventures into the history of the study of anatomy and the phenomenon of public dissection. Presented as a cornucopia of materials, images I made are paired with found photos, appropriated frontispieces of Renaissance anatomy manuals and quotations by anatomists from the Renaissance as well as classical and contemporary philosophers.
Public anatomies took place in specific theatres, called anatomical theatres, almost once a year, between the XV and the XVIII century, in front of students, professors, dignitaries and paying audiences as well. The public was essential, as a collective witness of the mysteries of the human body. Gaze there acquired a specific status, framing a sort of unified perception, where both professionals and lay audiences shared the same view and the same experience. The body was an unknown territory to explore and anatomists approached it in a way very similar to that of geographic expeditions, claiming new lands and naming them after themselves. They tried to trace and name each part, driven by a sort of cataloguing vertigo, in order to make the human body humanly graspable. During Renaissance anatomy was more linked to natural philosophy than to medicine per se and the main aim in opening bodies was not healing, but self-reckoning. The motto “nosce te ipsum” often recurs in anatomical theatres. Anatomy, before becoming a discipline focused on healing, was an attempt to understand ourselves, the way we function and what is inside us, which is usually precluded form our sight. It was a way of trying to get to an objective approach to ponder on a very subjective matter.
