The Heart

The Heart was the inaugural exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, the new cultural centre which opened in London in 2007. The exhibition traced the significance of the heart throughout history in art, medicine, religion and romance, using paintings, photographs, books, drawings, medical scans, films, surgical instruments and heart specimens. Clinical white screens wound their way through the space, punctuated by chapter text panels printed on foam. Songs with lyrics referring to the heart played from conical recessed speakers. Apertures penetrated the perimeter, giving animated views from the quiet of the gallery to the public realm of the busy streets outside. These alluded to the surgeon’s clamped frame that gives privileged access to the most private place of our being.