People are just dying to get into the Von Hagens Exhibit...

[rasputin1963]

http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html

 

 

Professor G

[yermej]

I saw one of the exhibits - Bodyworlds 3 - in St. Louis, MO. It was fascinating - both the process and the results. As far as I know, it's the most realistic look you can get at the internals of the human body short of being involved in autopsies/surgeries/doctor stuff. And some of the "sculptures" are things even the doctors miss out on - one is the circulatory system of a head plasticized and completely separate from the rest of the head, capillaries and all. Amazingly intricate.

 

The exhibit has some portions that are more medical/academic in nature (cross sections of various organs/systems - deformed spinal columns, bones, lungs of smokers and non-smokers, the circulatory system, diseased organs) and some that are more artistic (a woman doing a back bend on horseback, a man standing and holding his own skin in one raised hand, a man balanced on three large, metal balls holding the organs from his torso above his head). There was also a room, separate from the rest of the exhibit and with a warning at the entrance, that contained fetuses in various stages of development.

 

I don't see any moral/ethical issues, but I'm pretty socially liberal and not religious at all. Nobody was killed specifically to be plasticized or killed as part of the process. You can even sign up to be a body donor at the exhibits - arguably less useful than donating your body to research, but I feel it's much more of a contribution to the world than being buried or cremated.

 

Visitors get to view and appreciate the human body in a way never possible before. I left with a new respect and appreciation for the complexity of the human body (and animal life in general as there are horses, chickens, and other animals as well). Given the chance, I wouldn't hesitate to go again and would recommend it to others too.

[Lee Knight]

I saw the one, what was it called, The Body? In La Jolla. It was great. Not creepy in the least. The one you mention Ras might provoke a different response in me because of its attempt at art. That might be a bit ghoulish, I'm not sure. But to get these views of our own vessels is very interesting. My 11 year old loved it as did my wife.

[rasputin1963]

One thing Prof. von Hagens says is: "Your body records everything. Every cigarette you've ever smoked, every bite you've ever chewed, every time you got too much sun or drank too much alcohol."