Symposium ANATOMY & BEYOND explores new ways in which we envisage the role of art and anatomy, reimagining humanity on earth and beyond: in the here and now, and in possible, post-terrestrial futures. Artists, anatomists, scientists, medical doctors and museum curators are forced to rethink the porous limitations of our organic earthbound bodies and the role to be played by advancements and revolutionary technological physical enhancements to our bodies that are occurring with ever gathering speed as we venture into new arenas and space.

The coming symposium and exhibition is a sequel to Pascale Pollier’s successful and inspirational touring exhibition; Fabrica Vitae, and the accompanying conference Vesalius Continuum, of which she was the curator and chief organiser. Whereas the touring exhibition “Fabrica Vitae’, (the fabric of life) gave great attention to the past, from Galen to Vesalius and from Darwin to the present day, Anatomy & Beyond encourages a philosophical debate about our survival as an organic species and we will question and discuss what the future holds for humanity, and ultimately all terrestrial life affected by our decisions.

Symposium Anatomy & Beyond is curated by Pascale Pollier and it is a collaborative project of Association Européenne des Illustrateurs Médicaux et Scientifiques (AEIMS), The Medical Artists’ Association of Great Britain (MAA), Biological and Medical Art in Belgium (BIOMAB), Art Researches Science International Collaboration (ARSIC), International Society for the History of Medicine (ISHM) and RSU Anatomy Museum. Event is supported by Embassy of Belgium to Sweden and Latvia, General Representation of the Government of Flanders in Poland and the Baltic States, Vesalius Trust and Honorary Consul of Belgium in Latvia Dr. Didzis Gavars.

More information and registration here

PROGRAM (in Zoom)

09:45-10:00 Symposium opening

Session A. Moderator Ieva LĪBIETE, Latvia. ONSITE

• 10:00-10:30 Alien Anatomies. Richard WINGATE, U.K.
• 10:30-11:00 Anatomy for the surgeon: Then, Now and into the future. Francis WELLS, U.K.
• 11:30-12:00 Existential Anatomy. Joe DAVIS, U.S.

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch break

Session B. Moderator Ann VAN DE VELDE, Belgium

• 13:00-13:30 Regenerative synthetic ecosystems and evolving asteroid starships: a cybernetic reframing of the politics, poetics and ethics of space colonization. Angelo VERMEULEN, Belgium.
• 13:30-14:00 Intelligent Facial Prostheses. Andrew BURD, U.K./China.
• 14:00-14:30 Exploring the Link Between Our Cultural & Biological Evolution through Art : in the Anthropocene Age. Mara G. HASELTINE, U.S.

14:30 - 15:00 Coffee break

Session C. Moderator Pascale POLLIER, Belgium / U.K.

• 15:00-15:30 Anatomy Museums of a Critical Posthumanist. Nina SELLARS, Australia.
• 15:30-16:00 The edge of Anatomy. Andrew CARNIE, U.K.
• 16:00-16:30 The Past of the Future. Eleanor CROOK, U.K.

16:30-17:00 Coffee break

17:00-17:45 ISHM Keynote lecture by Alexander Lucas Bieri (CH) “Andreas Vesal’s Lasting Impact on the Art of the Danse Macabre”.

Panel “Death and Beyond”. Moderator Alya DIRIX, Belgium / Greece.

• 17:45-18:00 How would Sophocles's Antigone bury and rebury her brother tomorrow? Theo DIRIX, Belgium / Greece.
• 18:00-18:15 Dealing with the Dead - Sentiment versus Modernity. William EDWARDS, U.K.
• 18:15-18:30 Should humans from the past exist as digital humans in the future? Mark ROUGHLEY, U.K.
• 18:30 - 18:45 Open floor panel discussion

19:00-19:15 Bryan W. GREEN, U.K. Performance “Anatomy & Beyond”.