The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is set to open Overexposed: Art, Technology, and the Body on March 14 a major exhibition examining how medical imaging technologies have reshaped our understanding of the human body. Organized by Sonia Shechet Epstein, MoMI’s Curator of Science & Technology, the show takes its title from a Sylvia Plath poem and presents a provocative intersection of art, science, and cultural inquiry.
Overexposed features 33 works spanning film, installation, and historical artifacts, highlighting pioneering artists such as Barbara Hammer, Ana Mendieta, Liz Magic Laser, and Donald Rodney. The exhibition interrogates the supposed objectivity of medical imaging—X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans, and endoscopy—revealing the cultural assumptions, biases, and power dynamics embedded in how bodies are viewed and controlled.
“Every medical image tells a story—not just about health, but about power, vulnerability, and trust,” Epstein said. “Overexposed invites visitors to look beyond the surface and consider how our bodies—and our sense of self—are constantly being redefined by the tools that claim to see us most clearly.”
The exhibition traces the evolution of medical imaging from its debut alongside cinema in 1895 to the present day, exploring the artistic responses to its social and political implications. Works span 1891–2025 and feature contributions from 16 artists representing 13 countries.
Organized in three thematic sections, the exhibition explores:
- Technology and Power, which examines the Western pursuit of objectivity in medicine and the influence of mechanical optical tools;
- Limits of the Gaze, where contemporary artists challenge the normative frameworks of medical imaging; and
- Care and Control, highlighting personal and societal experiences with imaging technologies that have transformed medical practice.
Among the highlights are Mendieta’s X-ray (c. 1975), her only film with sound depicting her skull being imaged under a male doctor’s instruction, and Hammer’s Sanctus (1990), which confronts the latent harm of X-ray exposure. Other featured artists include Leslie Thornton, Agnes Questionmark, Panteha Abareshi, Peggy Ahwesh, and Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor. Historical artifacts, such as bootlegged X-ray records from the USSR, illustrate how technology has been used to subvert authority and inscribe culture.
Key themes of the exhibition include women’s health, disability visibility, patient-practitioner dynamics, and speculative futures in medical imaging. Overexposed challenges visitors to consider not only what is revealed by medical technology, but who controls the gaze and what it means for our sense of the body.
For more information, visit movingimage.us.