Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body presents more than 150 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary that demonstrate how understandings of the body and its many complexities have changed over time. The exhibition includes two site-specific sound sculptures by Canadian artist Ingrid Bachmann that are intended to help viewers calm and center their bodies.
The Aorta of an Archivist, an immersive sound and video installation by Houston-based artist Dario Robleto, explores key moments in the history of recording our bodies. Robleto’s 53-minute film humanizes abstract data and prompts viewers to consider what we can and can’t know about our bodies.
The Spencer Museum commissioned works by Robleto and Bachmann because of their backgrounds collaborating with medical professionals and scholars in other disciplines. “Both of these artists work at the intersection of art and medicine, and a goal for these shows was to demonstrate the way that artistic practice can contribute to research and dialogue about health and the human body,” says Curator Cassandra Mesick Braun.
In addition to an online experience of Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body, the Spencer Museum will host a series of free virtual conversations with artists featured in the exhibitions.
- March 2: Ingrid Bachmann and Sean Caulfield
- March 23: Holland Houdek and Gina Westergard
- April 6: Dario Robleto and Huascar Medina
- May 1: Andrew Carnie, Juan José Castaño-Márquez, Mary Anne Jordan, Nazanin Amiri Meers, and Sydney Jane Brooke Campbell Maybrier Pursel
For further details, visit spencerart.ku.edu.
Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body and The Aorta of an Archivist continue at the Spencer Museum of Art (1301 Mississippi Street, Lawrence, Kansas) through May 16, 2021. Both exhibitions are curated by Cassandra Mesick Braun, Spencer Museum Curator of Global Indigenous Art. For press inquiries, email Elizabeth Kanost elizacat@ku.edu.
