The evolution of visual technologies has profoundly transformed our perception of the body. My postdoctoral project, titled Between Seeing and Being: The Dichotomy of the Body in Medical and Artistic Imagery in the Phenomenological Experience, conducted in collaboration with Chiara Palermo (Université Paris 1 / LETHICA), explores this interaction between medical and artistic representation.
Medical imaging allows for the visualization of the interior of the body without surgical intervention, providing invaluable aid to patients and healthcare professionals. However, these images are often perceived as foreign by the patients themselves, creating a tension between their lived experience of the body and its reification by technology (Emmanuel Alloa, 2011, p. 14). This issue raises fundamental questions about our relationship with the body and its image in the contemporary world.
Article’s thumbnail: Photo by Owen Beard on Unsplash
A Historical Link Between Medical and Artistic Imagery
Since the invention of photography, medical and artistic representations have evolved concurrently. In 1839, photography was presented not at the Academy of Fine Arts but at the Academy of Sciences, highlighting its scientific calling (Jean-Louis Marignier, 1999, p. 74). A few decades later, X-ray imaging (1895) continued this trend by claiming to offer a transparent view of the body. Yet, these images require interpretation that goes beyond their apparent objectivity (Bernike Pasveer, 1989, p. 362). It was only from the 1980s that the humanities and social sciences began to consider these images not merely as imprints of reality, but as creations influenced by a technical and cultural framework.
A Phenomenological Experience of the Body
The goal of this research is to analyze the dialogue between medical imaging and artistic imagery to better understand their role in shaping a new perception of the body in the 21st century. By intersecting art and medicine, this study examines how these images shape our experience of our own body, oscillating between familiarity and strangeness.
Medical imaging, though produced in an intimate and private setting, offers a representation of the body that may seem dehumanizing. Conversely, artistic imagery, displayed publicly, transforms this representation into a space for shared reflection and emotion. These two forms of visualization are not only symptoms of an evolution in the philosophy of the body but also active tools in its transformation.
Issues and Stakes
This project revolves around several central questions:
- How is the body itself represented as a transparent entity through medical and artistic images?
- What ontological reflection do these images bring about the experience of the body in our hypervisual societies?
- How does the medical representation of the body influence an individual’s perception of their own materiality?
The aim is to highlight the interactions between art and science in the representation of the body and to analyze how, in a world where medical and artistic imagery are developing on an unprecedented scale, our relationship with the body is profoundly evolving.
Conclusion
This postdoctoral research seeks to explore how the 21st-century human perceives their body through technological and artistic filters. Relying on a dialogue between medicine, philosophy, and aesthetics, it offers a reflection on the impact of imagery in our identity and bodily construction.