Superhuman: from nose jobs to viagra - mankind's drive for self-improvment

A new exhibition takes a timely look at our efforts to enhance our physical performance
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Olivia Williams19 July 2012

One of mankind's most edifying characteristics is its constant striving for self-improvement. As a nod to the Olympics and Paralympics, a new exhibition takes a timely look at our efforts to enhance our physical performance.

Superhuman at the Wellcome Collection features exhibits showing the things we do to make our bodies more efficient, more aesthetically-pleasing and more intelligent.

The story of human enhancement starts with an ancient Egyptian prosthetic toe and a bronze of Icarus from 1st–3rd century AD, and comes right up to the present day, via early Viagra and ear trumpets, to the latest in nanotechnology and an ' i limb'.

Even looking at the clunky fake limbs of the 1960s, or a pair of Nike trainers from 1977, the exhibition reveals how far design and technology has come in just a few short decades.

The exhibition also features some more outlandish items, such as a child's gas-powered artificial arms from 1964 and an elaborate ivory dildo from the 18th century.

Rare artifacts include a 19th century silver nose attached to spectacles for women disfigured by syphilis, while video works show prosthetic legs being parachuted into Afghanistan in Mohsen Makhmalbaf's film 'Kandahar'.

Looking both to the future and to fantasy, the exhibition also examines human transformations in the form of comic book heroes, as humans fantasise about the possibilities of what they can do.

Superhuman is on at the Wellcome Collection from the July 19 - October 16 2012.

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