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Assembling Bodies: Art, Science and Imagination

Dr Anita Herle - Lead Curator The exhibition included 280 objects, mainly from the collections of MAA, the University of Cambridge and the Colleges Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination aimed to reveal and challenge preconceived ideas of the body by exploring the different ways that bodies are imagined, understood and transformed in teh arts, social and biological sciences. The exhibition brought together diverse materials, underpinned by recent theoretical ideas about the body, in ways that prompted audience engagement on multiple levels. Many of the displays highlighted innovations resulting from Cambridge-based research - from anthropological fieldwork, archaeological excavations and historical enquiries to developments in surgery, the discovery of DNA and the sequencing of the human genome. Assembling Bodies was part of a Leverhulme research project ‘Changing Beliefs of the Human Body’ (2004-2009). Additional funding was provided by the Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue (96 pages with 91 illustrations), a teacher’s guide and website http://maa.cam.ac.uk/assemblingbodies/. An extensive final report includes reviews, a list of numerous related academic and pubic activities, and visitor evaluations.

Dr Anita Herle - Lead Curator

The exhibition included 280 objects, mainly from the collections of MAA, the University of Cambridge and the Colleges

Assembling Bodies: Art, Science & Imagination aimed to reveal and challenge preconceived ideas of the body by exploring the different ways that bodies are imagined, understood and transformed in teh arts, social and biological sciences. The exhibition brought together diverse materials, underpinned by recent theoretical ideas about the body, in ways that prompted audience engagement on multiple levels. Many of the displays highlighted innovations resulting from Cambridge-based research - from anthropological fieldwork, archaeological excavations and historical enquiries to developments in surgery, the discovery of DNA and the sequencing of the human genome.

Assembling Bodies was part of a Leverhulme research project ‘Changing Beliefs of the Human Body’ (2004-2009). Additional funding was provided by the Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue (96 pages with 91 illustrations), a teacher’s guide and website http://maa.cam.ac.uk/assemblingbodies/. An extensive final report includes reviews, a list of numerous related academic and pubic activities, and visitor evaluations.