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It’s not every day you get to come face-to-face with real human specimens – and that alone makes ArtScience Museum’s latest exhibition, Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy, worth the visit. Alongside this unforgettable encounter, the show explores how the human body has been examined, imagined, and interpreted in countless ways, shaped by diverse cultures, technologies, and artistic lenses.
Bringing over 160 works, this exhibition is organised into nine thematic sections: The Body Imagined, Drawing the Body, Surface and Structure, Circulation and Flow I, Circulation and Flow II, Inside Stories, Saints and the Living Dead, Anatomical Ideal, and Final Gallery.
You can expect works by local and regional artists, historical artefacts on loan from the Getty Research Institute, and one truly striking element: an enclosed gallery where you’ll be able to actually encounter real human specimens up close, generously lent by Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Anatomy Department of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the Institute for Plastination in Germany.
After experiencing the exhibition, I left with a deeper awareness of how the human body is held together – and a renewed desire to better take care of my own. From historical anatomical engravings to contemporary installations, here are five highlights that captivated me.
1. rules for photographing a scoliotic patient
By Woong Soak Teng
Segment: Surface and Structure
This series of work looks at the body through the lens of scoliosis, examining how it has been observed, documented, and understood over time. It shifts the perspective from a predominantly Western clinical gaze to a more nuanced, Asian lens, offering an alternative way of seeing and interpreting the body. It also includes the artist’s personal X-rays and experiences with the condition, alongside photographs documenting others, grounding the work in both individual and shared realities.
2. Evolver
By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Segment: Circulation and Flow I
Evolver draws you into an immersive journey through the body, visualising processes like breathing and blood flow in a way that feels both expansive and intimate. Put on some headphones, and feel your senses move between the microscopic and the monumental, transforming invisible biological systems into something you can almost feel.
3. Human Specimens
From Various (NTU & Institute for Plastination)
Segment: Saints and the Living Dead
How often do you have the chance to witness the insides of your body up close? This part of the exhibition is the most thought-provoking and impactful – a chance to encounter real human specimens. Seeing our muscles, organs, and structures so intimately shifts the body from something abstract to something undeniably real, inevitably prompting a deeper awareness of both its fragility and complexity.
4. Just One of Those Things
By Mari Katayama
Segment: Anatomical Ideal
Mari Katayama’s work offers a powerful rethinking of what an “ideal” body can be. Through self-portraiture, she asserts control over her own image, using it as a space to express identity, resilience, and self-definition. Rather than conforming to traditional standards, the body here (her own) becomes something fluid and personal, shaped by lived experience.
5. Traditional Chinese Medicine Gallery
Courtesy of the Singapore Chinese Physicians’ Association,
Segment: Circulation and Flow II
This section presents an interesting way of understanding the body through Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), focusing on balance, energy, and interconnected systems rather than on physical structure alone. You’ll find charts, instruments, and visuals from TCM practitioners that reveal unexpected connections within the body. There’s even a reproduction of the Huangdi Neijing, the foundational text of TCM, connecting centuries of knowledge with how the body is understood today.
Flesh and Bones: The Art of Anatomy runs from March 21 to August 16, 2026. The museum is located at 6 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018974, and is open from Sunday to Thursday (10am to 7pm) and Friday to Saturday (10am to 9pm). Ticket prices start from $19.50 for Singaporean adults ($16.50 concession), $22 for tourists ($18 concession), and can be purchased here.
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