The Radiological Image in Contemporary Art

An interview with an interventional cardiologist reveals that radiographic imaging can provide information about a patient’s sex, age, and level of anxiety. Building on this biometric reading, this article explores whether the same medium, when applied to an artistic object, can also bring out other elements of identity: internal tensions, memory of volume, or affective states. This research draws on a study conducted at the University Hospital of Nantes (CHU de Nantes) assessing the radioprotective cabin Novashell, designed to evaluate the diffusion of X-ray radiation and its attenuation. This scientific framework informs a research-creation project situated at the intersection of medical physics and contemporary art. The article focuses on a personal bas-relief artwork that was radiographed in collaboration with a medical physicist. The resulting images were then 3D-printed into volumes. The analysis is informed by references to the first radiographic image in history (Bertha Röntgen’s hand), to Marta de Menezes’s work on biomedical self-representation, and to Jung and Pauli’s reflections on relationships between matter, energy, and symbolic form. In this article, these references are mobilized as conceptual frameworks within a research-creation methodology rather than as empirical proof. Early public feedback gathered during the exhibition is discussed as qualitative and exploratory material. Within these limits, the article proposes radiological imaging as a plastic and sensitive device for exploring identity.