The advent of cinema in the late 19th century allowed artists and scientists to record motion for the first time. Developed concurrently, X-ray technology extended vision beneath the skin, allowing people to view the body’s interior. Together, these tools produced spectacular new images that shaped modern conceptions of the body.
Overexposed: Art, Technology, and the Body, a major exhibition on view at Museum of the Moving Image until January 2027, traces how innovations like cinema and X-ray imaging radically transformed the way we see — and understand — the human form. Bringing together decades of research films and contemporary works by 16 artists, the exhibition explores how looking beneath the skin has shaped ideas about science, power, care, and identity.
Left: Film Lumière no. 831, Le Squelette Joyeux (1897), Louis and Auguste Lumière; Right: Grandmamauntsistercat (2024), Zuza Banasińska
“Through artworks and historical films, Overexposed reflects on the human desire to see inside the body, the technological means of doing so, along with possible social and political consequences,” said Sonia Shechet Epstein, Curator of Science and Technology at Museum of the Moving Image, who organized the exhibition.
Alongside the exhibition, the Museum is presenting a series of related events that have included a talk by Panteha Abareshi and screenings of Richard Fleischer’s Fantastic Voyage, David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers and The Brood, Claire Simon’s Our Body, and more. On November 5, in a program titled Visible Humans, ophthalmologist and photographer Benjamin Freeman and curator Elisabeth Sherman will discuss the Visible Human Project.
Left: De Humani Corporis Fabrica (2022), Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor; Right: The Bones of a Hand with a Ring on One Finger (1895). W.K. Röntgen
The artists featured in Overexposed are Panteha Abareshi, Peggy Ahwesh, Zuza Banasińska, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, Theo Jean and Ruth Cuthand, Barbara Hammer, Anna Kipervaser, Liz Magic Laser, Ana Mendieta, Agnes Questionmark, Donald Rodney, Courtney Stephens, Leslie Thornton, and Ron Vawter.
An exhibition catalog, co-edited by Sonia Epstein and Elisabeth Sherman, is available in the MoMI Shop (onsite and online) and where books are sold. Lead support for Overexposed was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional generous support was provided by Romy Cohen, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Elaine Goldman, May & Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, and Doug Pugh.
Overexposed: Art, Technology, and the Body is on view through January 3, 2027.
Learn more at movingimage.org.
