Overexposed: Anatomy and Cinema with Sonia Epstein

25 Nov 2023 4.30-5.15pm

Overview

Hear from Sonia Epstein about the historical and contemporary ways filmmakers have engaged with the body through medical imaging

Following from Tate Modern’s 2022 Counter Encounters series titled Several Encounters over Plants, Science, Body, Anatomy explores the intersection of film and medical technology with a specific focus on the internal structures of the body.

Today’s talk illustrates the related development of cinema and optical medical tools, focusing on X-ray technology as the first instrument to visualize the inside of a living body. It will include an eclectic array of images and film clips, including examples from early cinema, archival films from the Wellcome Collection, and excerpts of works by contemporary artists such as Sandra Lahire, Mona Hatoum, as well as select scenes from films included in the two-day programme.

Followed by a conversation about the presence and absence of women’s bodies in the archive between Sonia Epstein, Wellcome Collection’s Research Development Specialist Angela Saward, and filmmaker Jyoti Mistry.

The second and last screening within Science, Body, Anatomy will start at 18.00. This grouping of works explores illness, health, and the poetics of being.

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