Plastic wax: Art and Science for the preservation of three-dimensional artificial models

Art and Science for the preservation of three-dimensional artificial models

31/01/2014

Title: Plastic wax: Art and Science for the preservation of three-dimensional artificial models

Date: Monday 3rd February at 09:30

Place: E.T.S. Civil Engineering, basement 1

Speaker: Alicia Sánchez Ortiz

Free admission

According to an anthropological overview, wax is considered a very adequate material to represent human bodies thanks to its particular capability to show a similar appearance and to imitate the characteristics of a skin and simulate the body. When we observe an anatomic artificial model, our look is fascinated by an extraordinary manual skill developed by the creator to achieve the maximum verisimilitude compared to the original body. But at the same time we can feel the unease triggered by the little difference between the cadaver and the wax body because the wax body is just a replacement, a representation of something real.

Our proposal will show the latest results in a research on the local collection of wax artificial figures ordered by the king Charles III for the Royal School of Surgery of San Carlos. These figures are currently exhibited in the Museum of Anatomic of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Further information and contact details:
Dr. José Ygnacio Pastor, Organizer and Coordinator Scientific
Department of Material Science. Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
E.T.S. Civil Engineering, First Floor. Profesor Aranguren Road, E28040–Madrid
T. (+34) 913 366 684. F. (+34) 913 366 680. jypastor@mater.upm.es

Tag: Materials for the Future    Source: CEI Campus Moncloa

Event date:

03/02/2014