Casebooks, the catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same name presented by Ambika P3 and the Casebooks Project in 2016, explores one of the largest surviving collections of medical records in history: the seventeenth-century casebooks of astrologer-physicians Simon Forman and Richard Napier. Bringing together newly commissioned works by artists including Jasmina Cibic, Federico Díaz, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Rémy Markowitsch, Lindsay Seers, and Tunga, the publication explores contemporary artistic responses to the archive’s intersections of medicine, astrology, prophecy, power, and systems of knowledge.
The catalogue reflects on the artists’ engagement with the 64 surviving manuscript volumes, which document thousands of consultations conducted over four decades concerning illness, mental distress, sexuality, relationships, labour, political anxieties, and economic uncertainty. Developed in dialogue with the University of Cambridge’s long-term digitisation project of the archive held at the Bodleian Library, the publication examines how historical systems of diagnosis, interpretation, and belief continue to resonate within contemporary questions surrounding authority, technology, surveillance, and the body.
Through essays, visual documentation, and project texts, CASEBOOKS situates the participating artists’ works within broader discussions of archival materiality, speculative knowledge, and the relationship between historical records and contemporary image-making.
Works
Performative installation