Anatomical Waxes - The Specola of Florence - David Cronenberg

"Cere anatomiche" (Anatomical waxes) is an exhibition conceived in collaboration with La Specola, which is part of the Museum of Natural History and Museum System of the University of Florence, and the Canadian film director and screenwriter David Cronenberg. This project develops in two complementary parts. An exhibition features a selection of thirteen eighteenth-century ceroplastic works from the renowned collection of the Florentine museum, and a series of seventy-two exhibition copies of anatomical drawings gathered in nine vitrines. In particular, "Cere anatomiche" features four reclining female figures, including one of the most relevant works of La Specola's collection, the so-called Venus, a rare model with detachable parts famous for its beauty. An unprecedented short movie titled Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection, realised by David Cronenberg in the spaces of La Specola, provides an alternative gaze on the four female wax models on display, exploring themes such as the fascination with the human body and its potential mutations and contaminations. Cronenberg's film reveals the vivid and unexpected dimension of the ceroplastics, so far known for their static and severe nature, to generate a plurality of new emotional responses, intellectual impressions, and intense feelings. Introductions by Miuccia Prada, Marco Benvenuti; statement by David Cronenberg. Conversations with between Claudia Corti and Mario Mainetti, and between Eva Sangiorgi and David Cronenberg. Texts by Roberta Ballestriero, Paul Brown, Riccardo Venturi, Sandra Zecchi. Anthology of texts by Maria Luisa Azzaroli, Fausto Barbagli, Mario Bucci, Gianni Canova, Simone Contardi, Eleanor Crook, Francesco Paolo de Ceglia, Georges Didi-Huberman, Joanna Ebenstein, Giovanni Festa, Marcie Frank, Mauro Giori, John Hatch, Zoltan Kadar, Peter K. Knoefel, Chloe Anna Milligan, Marta Poggesi, Mario Praz, Dylan Trigg and Marcos Uzal.