Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy
- Rosette Media
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
The ArtScience Museum is delving beneath the surface to explore various viewpoints on the universally recognizable human body. Debuting on 21 March 2026, Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy combines art, science, memory, and tradition to examine how the human body has been studied, envisioned, and depicted throughout different eras and cultures, from its external form to its concealed inner workings.
This exhibition explores the history, origins, and thought processes that have shaped human anatomy from ancient times through scientific discovery and transformation, illustrating how the human element has evolved over time to capture the essence of our species. In celebration of ArtScience Museum’s 15th anniversary, the exhibition features over 160 artefacts and artworks unveiling the human body's interior. It includes historical masterpieces such as life-sized illustrations, anatomical atlases, medical manuscripts, and rare, delicate books from a project initiated at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles in 2022, curated by Dr. Monique Kornell.
This updated version of Flesh and Bones has been expanded and reimagined by ArtScience Museum, in collaboration with Getty, to include stories and medical traditions from Asia, alongside 33 significant contemporary artworks and installations that provide new perspectives on viewing the body.
The exhibition begins with The Network Within (2026), a striking new site-specific installation by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota. Another highlight is a collection of large-scale anatomical engravings by Antonio Cattani, created in Italy in the late eighteenth century. These are among the most accomplished visualizations of the dissected human body, presented alongside the anatomically precise yet speculative figures by Hong Kong-based artist Angela Su, illustrating how the human body is continually reinterpreted across different cultures and times.
The exhibition also includes a gallery dedicated to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), featuring over 40 items on loan from the Singapore College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This collection, ranging from ancient medical texts and instruments to charts, scrolls, and diagrams, offers an educational introduction to TCM.
Moreover, visitors will have the unique opportunity to see 20 human body specimens — 15 pathological specimens on loan from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Anatomy Department, and five plastinated specimens from the Institute for Plastination in Germany. Displayed alongside an exhibit on the Silent Mentor programme and reflections from medical students, this section emphasizes the empathy, respect, and humanistic values fundamental to anatomical learning in Singapore.
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