FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE FACE

Future Face, a Wellcome Trust exhibition at the Science Museum in London, was a thought-provoking and occasionally challenging look at faces and the impact they have on others. Its imaginative juxtaposition of medical objects and imagery, artworks old and new, and scientific discovery provided many novel insights into the everyday yet still mysterious phenomenon of faces and face recognition.

Running from October 2004 to February 2005, Future Face was the final exhibition in a series mounted by the Wellcome Trust at the Science Museum. It explored several fundamental questions about the human face. What makes a face? Why are faces so important to our sense of identity? And how do people react to damaged and different faces?

The exhibition also explored the modification and reconstruction of the face for medical or cosmetic reasons, and considered what faces might look like in the future.

Curated by Sandra Kemp, Director of Research at the Royal College of Art, the exhibition was named one of the Times Higher Education Supplement's Research Projects of the Year. It was accompanied by a book and CD-ROM, and was complemented by debates and discussions, a 'Face on Film' weekend held in November 2004 at the Curzon Mayfair, and other special events in venues throughout London (including the Science Museum's Dana Centre).

A 'Facing Death' symposium, held at the National Portrait Gallery in January 2005, brought together dynamic voices from the worlds of art history, media, medicine and science to discuss the past, present and future of the facial representations of death.

Future Face: Image, identity, innovation is published by Profile Books in association with the Wellcome Trust and can be ordered via Profile Books at www.profilebooks.co.uk or +44 (0)20 7421 6172. Price £12.99. ISBN 1 86197 768 9.

The Future Face CD-ROM can be ordered by emailing contact@wellcome.ac.uk. Price: £10.00 for a pack of five, including postage and packing. ISBN 1 84129 050 5.