SOMATECHNICS OF ATLASING: PERFORMING FASCIA THROUGH ANATOMY THEATRE REENACTMENTS

Departing from the overlapping historical spatial practices of atlasing by the cartographer and the anatomist, this research critically engages with Western medico-anatomical atlases that reveal the naturalized operations of power. In the public spectacles of anatomical theatres of the Netherlands in the 16th century, the body (soma) was an undiscovered territory demanding craftsmanship (techné) in pursuit of an epistemological promise of visibility enabled through exploitation and appropriation.

The research approaches atlasing somatechnically, where medical procedures such as anamnesis, operation, scanning, incising, and suturing are reenacted as performative gestures. Activated by the recognition of fascia four centuries later, and driven by an aim to denaturalize visualization technologies, the research experiments with biosensor circuits to amplify the bioelectrical language of connective tissues into soundscapes. Through do-it-yourself and do-it-with-others experimentations, it traces the long-lost narrative of fascia and explores its publicness through shared, embodied experiences.