Memento of the post-mortem.
When the Department of Pathology of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in The Netherlands moved from its old to its new premises, the demolition of the marble post-mortem tables was impending, taking with it the Department's (physical) memory. To keep the importance of this memory and of the post-mortem itself on everyone's minds in the new building, the artist Piet Hein Eek was invited to incorporate these post-mortem tables into a work of art. This became a triptych: the three post-mortem tables were stood upright against the wall behind a mounted double sheet of glass, containing screen prints of enlarged microscopic images. The two emblems of pathology-post-mortem tables and double glass slides containing specimens-were thus united into a fascinating work of art: a true memento of the post-mortem, re-embedded in the contemporary world by its design.
van Speybroeck
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Curator of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre Art Collection, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
van Krieken
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van Daal
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Ruiter
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D001344:Autopsy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D009426:Netherlands; D012613:Sculpture; D016610:Tissue Embedding / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods