Our project began with an exploration of anatomy and the historical point where art and science intersected. To ground this research, we spent a week visiting three key institutions: The Hunterian Museum, The Wellcome Collection and the Science Museum in London.

Each morning we studied how the body has been classified, displayed and interpreted across time. In the afternoons we returned to our own bodies through training at Stars Gym, using movement and breath to reconnect with physical weight, rhythm and limitation.

From this research we developed a group project titled My Body is a Bouncy Temple. For this work we bought two bouncy castles and painted them in flesh-like tones, creating a soft, child-like vessel through which to examine how the body responds to environment. Our aim was to invite our community into a spectacle of the organ and a space of chaotic play.

Training at Stars Gym made us increasingly aware of institutional ideas around meaningful movement, particularly the emphasis on efficiency and productivity. This led us to bouncy castles, where movement is shaped by collective joy rather than optimisation. Their unpredictability allowed us to challenge the controlled expectations placed on bodies in institutional settings.

The castle became a playful organ, and through performance our bodies acted as cells bouncing within it, accompanied by doctors ready to operate.-

Project Collaborators: Gemma Barr — @gemmabarr_. Nyoungjun — @nyoung_jun. Qinyi Li — @qinyi.ching. Dulcie Davy Usher — @dulcie.davy. Zhuoyuan Cao — @llleo66_66. Tianhao Pang — @hakuna_tianhao. Shuqi Kang — @sukie_kkang. Abigail Samuel — @abijoysamuelart. Cosima Bucarelli — @cocosimaas. Zhehe Li — @900zhl. Runqi Wen — @r0wen00. Mila Tsarkova — @milatsarkova. Pamella Gomes — @pamella.f.p.gomes

Text and Images by Shuqi Kang - @sukie_kkang