Scientia Sexualis

Art that reimagines new frameworks for the history of science where sex, gender and pleasure are concerned

This volume considers the work of contemporary feminist and queer artists whose work confronts, dissolves and reimagines sex and gender within the apparatus of science—past and present. The included artists address topics such as the origins of modern gynecology and its ties to the torture of enslaved women; the pathologization of the sexual body; the entanglement of colonization with sexual violence; and nonconsensual gendering of trans and intersex people.

Addressing the aftermath of our encounters with scientific discourses and institutions, Scientia Sexualis engages the materials of the clinic, the lab and the biomatter of sex and race; challenges our sense of what science is; confronts harm produced in the name of science; and offers alternative methods of learning. This richly illustrated publication accompanies a fall 2024 exhibition at the ICA LA.