Of the Body

From Andreas Vesalius’ groundbreaking De Fabrica Humani Corporis’ to the drawings of Da Vinci and Dürer, the 16th century heralded a new fascination with the human figure. Human dissection transformed our understanding of anatomy and the body became the subject of scientific and artistic fixation. In Of The Body, composer Dan Walker draws on Renaissance art, music and science to explore our corporal form in a contemporary context. In the spirit of Buxtehude’s masterpiece, ‘Membra Jesu Nostri’, Of the Body comprises six movements, each devoted to an anatomical part: the eyes, the hands, the mouth, the feet, the blood, and finally, the heart. A musical dissection of sorts, Of the Body traverses sex, sensuality, the senses and more, exploring what it means to be embodied in a digital age, our relationship to our corporeal form; our flesh and blood.