Body Worlds Exhibit

[daaub]

Anyone get a chance to see Dr. Gunther von Hagens Body World's exhibition currently travelling the world.

The docomposition of the body is haulted through a process of plastination. The process is : Water in the tissue is replaced with acetone and then the acetone is replaced with a polymer solution making the specimen, tissue, organs, entire human body, animal, ect., permanent.

www.bodyworlds.com
Not sure if there are many images on their website but if you go to www.images.google.ca and type body worlds you will find many examples.

small gallerys here:
http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/A/anatomists/gallery1.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,8543,-10204376686,00.html
http://www.msichicago.org/scrapbook/scrapbook_exhibits/bodyworlds/gallery.html

The mandate as the website states is health education. "... the exhibitions are targeted mainly at a lay audience to open up the opportunity to better understand the human body and its functions."

Just curious how you all feel about this. Is it art, science, figure sculpture ...?

Though I have not yet visited the exhibition, this is interesting to say the least. From the images I have seen, I can definately appreciate the imagination that has gone into some of the elaborate set-ups and poses in many of these figures and animals and feel it can trancend the scientific rehlm because of this. I guess haveing a real body to work makes it easy to get the proportions right, ha.

Hope to see it soon.

[Merlion]

The mandate as the website states is health education. "... the exhibitions are targeted mainly at a lay audience to open up the opportunity to better understand the human body and its functions."

Just curious how you all feel about this. Is it art, science, figure sculpture ...?

Though I have not yet visited the exhibition, this is interesting to say the least. From the images I have seen, I can definately appreciate the imagination that has gone into some of the elaborate set-ups and poses in many of these figures and animals and feel it can trancend the scientific rehlm because of this. I guess haveing a real body to work makes it easy to get the proportions right, ha.

Hope to see it soon.

Yes, this exhibition has been going around the world. It has passed through Singapore and I have seen it. It is not cheap, and attracts a lot of curiosity type of interest from the general public.

It is so different from any other exhibitions that it is difficult to give good considered opinions.

To me it does not matter if it is art, science, or figure sculptures, etc.

I would say it is education. It gives those with health and medicine background an additional perspective of how different organs and tissues of real human bodies, male and female, young and old, can be peeled open, 'frozen', and displayed.

It is hard to give a view how the general public can benefit, except to satisfy their curiosity. Perhaps children and those ignorant of the human body can benefit, with guides to explain the exhibits, like visiting a museum.

But lets have an open mind. Without the large number of general public visitors, they would not be able to finance the making of so many exhibits. Nor would they be able to take the exhibits on this large road show to so many cities around the world, to educate the minorities who can benefit.

For me and other artists interested in knowing more about human anatomy, I suppose it is of further interest, and of some benefit.

But I looked at the books they also sell at the exhibition, and did not part with the money to buy them, as the books, like the exhibition are not cheap.

Hope these comments help, perhaps to clear up the mystery.

The above are my detached analytical comments. What about my own feeling?

Apparently my feeling for humanity and people extends to enforce a cultural respect for the human body even when dead. So there is of course an unhappiness about dead bodies being torn apart and stripped open, and openly displayed for all to grope over and even laughed at.

I suppose in other cultures, and for other people, the feeling is very different.

[obseq]

I had a chance to see this exhibit last January and was very impressed.

The large attending crowd had the feel of a carnival or state fair-- Kids were left running around, freely touching, yelling, and stomping around,
while parents just giggled.

The work itself was pretty intense should you afford yourself pause to take it in.

You are left consdiering these bodies of real people displayed in fantastic poses, or thoughts of shopping for prosciutto, fois gras, and flank steak.
Reality: In the end, we're all food for something.

Surely, customers at the local butcher or supermarket aren't left considering the plight of piglet # 3,600 at the local farm when giving strips of bacon the once over.

It was all very surreal. The informal crowd seemed to mask the gravity of it all.

[ironman]

Hi, I haven't seen this "Body Worlds" exhibit but my sister who is an RN went to see it and thought it was fantastic. I don't recall the details but she did get my interest up and if I get a chance to see it I will.
It seems to be more about science and education about the human body but I think it would be of great interest to almost anyone.
Have a nice day,
Jeff

[obseq]

Jeff,

If the exhibit makes it's way on your end, do visit.

Last I heard, the exhibit was in jeopardy after one show was shut down after plastinization failure on some of the pieces. As a result, the bodies continued to decay.

I 've yet to hear the latest.

"Apparently my feeling for humanity and people extends to enforce a cultural respect for the human body even when dead. So there is of course an unhappiness about dead bodies being torn apart and stripped open, and openly displayed for all to grope over and even laughed at.

I suppose in other cultures, and for other people, the feeling is very different."

Merilion,
It really should be a didactic experience for any audience, but again, I think decorum is a problem: The exhibit I attended at the USC Science Center lacked sufficient security/monitors to wrangle in spectators who were really loud and physically disturbing the work freely.

It's really too bad..

[JasonGillespie]

I saw the exhibit in Philadelphia last semester. It was very interesting. Given the anatomical studies that I am doing at the academy this semester it was informative to see the bones and muscles as they really work together on the skeleton. What is nice is that they do different cut-aways on a lot of the figures so you can see the internal workings of the body.

I wouldn't say it was art in anyway. The format is still very scientific, only with the bodies composed in intriguing ways. It was worth the money. There is a slight feeling of morbidity if you wonder about the lives of the people before they became subjects for the exhibition though

It is sad to hear of the people who couldn't control themselves or their kids. In Philadelphia I didn't see any evidence of that.

[griffin]

The exhibit is here in Philadelphia till April 23 2006. As much as I might benefit
from seeing anatomy that way. I simply have not been able to surmount the ethical questions that are generated in my mind by such disrespect for the dead.
I am all for science and art for that matter and I realize there is a history
of actual anatomical studies ei, Eakins and so on .However I think I would rather get the body wrong and render instead the essence of the person. There is no essence (at least for me) in a corpse.

It reminds be of all the lifeless animal and nature tableaus that I saw in English Museums. These collections seem to say more about the desires of the collectors than of the subjects depicted. Wouldn't a person learn more about an animal by simply observing it alive in nature? That always puzzles me.
I suppose figure sculpture is another matter. An artist would be hard pressed
to render a figure based on a fleeting moment.

Hmm, I guess I have a few more weeks to change my mind about bodyworks.



Sincerely,
griffin

[Daniel]

I visited the Body Worlds exhibit when it was here in L.A., and I can tell you first and foremost that you won't want to eat carne asada for quite some time after viewing it. Nevertheless, it was an extremely fascinating display showing the complexities of our fragile bodies. The displays are reminiscent of the work of Andreas Vesalius. Scientific in nature, but done with an artist's touch. I was especially impressed with the circulatory system displays. These will blow your mind. I think that he circulated some type of resin or plastic throughout the entire circulatory system of the bodies until it hardened, then somehow dissolved all of the flesh and bone. A perfect casting of the blood circulation system is left, free-standing on its own. If you have the opportunity to see this exhibit you must go.

Daniel

[Landseer]

Interesting I guess, art? science? hard to say, pretty bizarre exhibit.

I noticed this in an article that is of interest, Merlion- note what it says about ACETONE! anyway, it's an interesting process described:


The plastination process
Plastination involves replacing the water and fat in tissues with a reaction plastic such as silicon rubber, epoxy resin or polyester. The choice of plastic will determine the character of the preserved object. Different plastics can be flexible or hard, transparent or opaque.

After embalming and dissection, specimens are immersed in a solvent such as acetone which removes body fat. The acetone is then removed under a vacuum and is continuously sucked away. The resulting volume deficit in the specimen allows plastic to slowly permeate every cell. It is this 'forced impregnation' by liquid plastic that is at the heart of plastination.

Depending on the plastic used, it can be hardened by heat, light or gas. Samples are positioned to best effect and then hardened so they retain their shape. Von Hagens suggests that specimens preserved in this way can last a thousand years.