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Body Worlds

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Body Worlds (German title: Körperwelten) is a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination to reveal inner organs or structures. The exhibition's developer and promoter is a German anatomist named Gunther von Hagens, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s. The exhibition, first presented in Tokyo in 1995, has been shown in many cities in Europe and Asia. A second exhibition, along similar lines but with different exhibits, called Body Worlds 2 opened in 2005. A third exhibition, Body Worlds 3, opened on February 25, 2006, at The Houston Museum of Natural Science. According to catalogues from the exhibition, more than 17 million people worldwide had seen Body Worlds and Body Worlds 2 up to late 2005.

The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laymen about the human body, leading to better health awareness. All of the human plastinates are willing donors who wished to be of use even after their deaths. The original Body Worlds exhibit consisted of about 25 full body plastinates with expanded or selective organs shown in positions that enhanced the role of certain systems. Cased in glass amid the upright bodies are more than 200 specimens showing an array of real human bodies, some with various medical conditions. For example, there are bodies with prosthetics such as artificial hip joints or heart valves; a liver with cirrhosis; and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker placed side by side.

A curtained off prenatal wing features a pregnant woman who died 8 months into pregnancy; her unborn fetus died shortly thereafter. She is shown reclining and a large flap exposes her insides, with the nearly fully-formed baby pushing aside her internal organs fully visible. This section also usually contains unborn fetuses and embryos, some with congenital disorders.

The last exhibit hall features a rearing horse and rider. All exhibits are accompanied with detailed descriptions, and audio guides are available with the option of beginner or advanced (laymen/medical).

Controversies

The shows have been surrounded by controversy for a number of reasons. Von Hagens prepared some "artistic" exhibits, such as a man carrying his own skin (based on a 16th century drawing by Gaspar Becerra); a man on horseback holding his brain in one hand, the horse's brain in the other; and a man kneeling in prayer, holding his heart in his hands. These exhibits are seen by some as denigrating the deceased. Some religious groups object to any public exhibition of human corpses.[citation needed] Others accuse von Hagens of sensationalism.

Von Hagens has been repeatedly accused of using bodies from deceased persons who did not give consent, such as prison inmates and hospital patients from Kyrgyzstan and executed prisoners from China. He maintains that all bodies exhibited in Body Worlds came from donors who gave informed consent. A commission set up by the California Science Center in Los Angeles in 2004 confirmed Von Hagens' claims. However, Von Hagens does not make the same claim for all bodies prepared by his plastination institute, only the ones exhibited in Body Worlds. There is also the issue that the children and unborn fetuses included in the exhibition had no way of giving informed consent to the display of their bodies.

Von Hagens maintains strict copyright control over pictures of his exhibits. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures, and press photographers are required to sign agreements permitting only a single publication in a strictly defined context, followed by a return of the copyright to von Hagens. Because of this, a German press organization has suggested that the press refrain from reporting about the exhibition altogether.[citation needed]

In 2003, officials of Munich tried to prohibit the exhibition there, arguing that it violated laws regulating burials and did not respect human dignity. Von Hagens appealed and managed to obtain a temporary injunction allowing the exhibition to take place, but was required to cover the artistic exhibits mentioned above.

The exhibition in Hamburg in 2003 took place in the rooms of an erotic art museum on the Reeperbahn, the city's red light district. Prostitutes and cab drivers were admitted for free. Von Hagens added a new exhibit, "Early Bird", a man with an erection.[1] Initial objections of a local official to the artistic exhibits were overruled by officials of the Hamburg Senate.

Annoyed with the repeated legal harassment which he encountered in Germany, Von Hagens announced in the summer of 2004 that the exhibition would leave Germany for good. The exhibit has been travelling in the United States and Canada since then.

Notable exhibits

The Basketball Player

Compared to the other plastinates, the donor of the body for this exhibit had the greatest muscle mass by far. The donor's muscles are left intact, and the body dribbles a basketball in its right hand. The top of the skull is also separated from the head to reveal the brain underneath.

The Swimmer

This is one of the few women featured in the exhibition. Her body is split in half laterally and the two halves are displayed swimming away from each other.

The Archer

This plastinate is another of the few women featured in the exhibition. The archer is posed in a crouch after releasing the bow string. Her brain is situated above her skull for easy viewing.

The Runner

A runner is caught mid-stride with his muscles fanned out to show their complexity.

The Equestrian

This plastinate features a man riding on a horse. Both the man and horse are plastinated, with the man's front and back separated from the rest of his body. This exhibit was covered while the exhibition was in Munich, due to a decision of the Bavarian courts.

Winged Man

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The muscles of Winged Man are splayed outwards, giving a rough wing-like appearance. Winged Man also wears a Panama hat, and is standing on a continuously rotating platform.

Pregnant woman

One of the more controversial exhibits is an 8-months pregnant woman, lying on her side with her arm propping her upper body up. The bottom of her torso is cut away to reveal a curled fetus inside. A nearby sign states that this woman decided to donate her body and the fetus when she was informed that she had a terminal disease.

Blood vessel family

This exhibit includes a man, a woman, and a child on top of the man's shoulders. These bodies were prepared by injecting a red dye and plastinating agent into their blood vessels, then using chemicals and ultrasound to dissolve away their flesh and bones. As a result, only the circulatory system is left behind.

The Smoker

This displays a man holding a cigarette and has one lung exposed to show the damaging effects that smoking has on the body. Some people have even left their cigarettes at the display, possibly indicating they have chosen to quit smoking.

Exhibition schedule

Includes past, present, and future exhibitions

Original Exhibit

Body Worlds 2

Body Worlds 3

Competitors

The financial success of Body Worlds and Body Worlds II gave rise to several similar shows featuring plastinated cadavers, including "The Universe Within" in San Francisco, "Bodies Revealed" in Seoul, "Body Exploration" in Taiwan, "Mysteries of the Human Body" in South Korea, "Jintai Plastomic: Mysteries of the Human Body" in Japan, and "Cuerpos entrañables" in Spain.

Some of these contain exhibits very similar to von Hagens' plastinates; von Hagens has asserted copyright protection, and has sued "Body Exploration" and "Bodies Revealed". The suits were based on a presumed copyright of certain positions of the bodies, but the counterparty asserts that the human body in its diversity cannot be copyrighted.

Such lawsuits have not stopped the competition, though. While the Korean police in Seoul confiscated a few exhibits from "Bodies Revealed", the exhibition went on successfully.

Several of the competing exhibitions have been organized by the publicly traded US company Premier Exhibitions Inc.. They started their first "Bodies Revealed" exhibition in Blackpool, England which ran from August through October 2004. In 2005 and 2006 the company opened their "Bodies Revealed" and "Bodies...The Exhibition" exhibitions in Seoul, Tampa, Florida and New York City respectively. Other exhibition sites in 2006 are Mexico City, Atlanta (GA), London, Great Britain and Las Vegas (Nevada).[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Bodies The Exhibition sites
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Body Worlds.

Further reading

  • Franz Josef Wertz, Brigitte Tag (eds.): "Schöne Neue Körperwelten, Der Streit um die Ausstellung", Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 2001. Sixteen authors discuss the various ethical and aesthetical aspects of Body Worlds, in German.
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