On March 24, Fondazione Prada debuted “Cere anatomiche: La Specola di Firenze | David Cronenberg,” currently on view through July 17 in Milan. In a spirited conversation with past and present, 13 eighteenth century “cere anatomiche” (anatomical waxes) in the shape of female models from La Specola—part of the Museum of Natural History and Museum System of the University of Florence—are juxtaposed with a short film, Four Unloved Women, Adrift on a Purposeless Sea, Experience the Ecstasy of Dissection, directed by David Cronenberg. The legendary filmmaker’s creative examination of the enigma of the human body is in direct dialogue with scientific studies in an immaculate presentation by creative agency Random Studio.
“The wax figures of La Specola were created primarily as teaching tools that unlocked the mysteries of the human body…” explained Cronenberg. “But…they happened to produce living characters who seemed to be in the throes of ecstasy. It was this startling choice on the part of the sculptors of these figures that captured my imagination: what if it was the dissection itself that induced that ecstasy, that almost religious rapture?”
