“Silvia Casini's brilliant study of data visualization in MRI imaging provides a window into an era in which understanding of bodies in techno-visual terms not only critically impacts healthcare and neuroscientific, biochemical, and physiological studies of the body, but also permeates public imaginaries.”
Amit Prasad, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology; author of Imperial Technoscience: Transnational Histories of MRI in the United States, Britain, and India
“With thought-provoking analysis of the interplay of aesthetics and epistemics at every step in laboratory practice, Casini tells a fascinating story of bodies turned into data and images and challenges the current understanding of scientific practice and brings art–science collaborations to new levels by unpacking their true entanglement.”
Cornelius Borck, Professor and Director, Institute for History of Medicine and Science Studies, University of Lübeck
“By engaging the study of the aesthetic politics of body imaging in biomedicine, Casini opens up a whole new way of understanding MRI's role as a vital technocultural form. Giving Bodies Back to Data is a breakthrough book!”
Lisa Cartwright, Professor of Visual Arts, Communications and Science Studies, University of California, San Diego
“Giving Bodies Back to Data is a must-read book for a range of readers: whether interested in understanding the journey leading to the development of MRI technology, or the processes of artmaking in an art and science context, they might find themselves becoming inextricably entangled with and benefiting from both approaches.”
LEONARDO
“Casini's ambitiously interdisciplinary approach offers a powerful model for other arts and humanities researchers. It raises pertinent conceptual and methodological questions about contemporary art practice as knowledge production, building on the work of anthropology and STS scholars that include Tim Ingold, and Erin Manning and Brian Massumi. Whilst art history often prioritizes a scholarly focus on the final visual output of medical imaging technologies, Casini's approach suggests that we might be equally well advised to consider the black-boxed processes through which such images are produced.”
ART HISTORY
“Such detailed and critical cross-disciplinary case studies as Giving Bodies Back to Data in the field of art and science are rare so far, and books like this one provide a more critical and precise account of new imaging technologies than overview studies on image and science. Ultimately, the biggest contribution of Casini's book is the compelling case it makes about the importance of history when dealing with technology. Both those involved in developing new technologies and those who use them would benefit from understanding their situated histories where decisions in their development entangle politics and economics with science, aesthetics, creativity and disciplinary tensions across space and time.”
The Senses & Society
“In total, the book is an eminent contribution to the literature on the embodied and situated practices of data visualizations.”
H-Net Reviews Attn H-Sci-Med-Tech
“Casini's book is theoretically multifaceted, as it brings together insights from STS and the philosophy of science with lessons from art history and visual culture studies. It is empirically rich, as it combines several types of data derived through different methods...
Casini's book is a welcome addition to the study of the visual culture of biomedicine, with academic as well as societal relevance. In science, perhaps more than anywhere else in society, knowledge is shaped and mediated through images. Casini's book offers a nuanced and insightful critical reflection on the truth claims surrounding scientific images.”
Science, Technology & Society
"In Giving Bodies Back to Data, Silvia Casini provides an enlightening study of how science and the arts engage with data visualization through her study of MRI technology...
In Casini's study, the MRI machine is not simply a diagnostic tool. It is a boundary object to explain the complexity of data visualization. It is an artifact that exemplifies how science and technological discovery are grounded in the intricacy of humanity. And lastly, it is a medium for the artist."
Technology and Culture
