Re: OT: Body Worlds anatomical exhibit

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 22:47:14 +0000 (UTC), Amy Guskin
<aisling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Hey, all,
>
>I wanted to tell you about a really unusual, interesting, and at times quite
>gruesome exhibit I saw yesterday at Philadelphia's Franklin Museum. It's a
>traveling exhibit, so hopefully some of you will have the chance to see it in
>your own cities.
>
>"Body Worlds" is described in its promotional literature as follows:
>
>>> Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human
>Bodies, is a first-of-its-kind exhibit in which guests learn about anatomy,
>physiology, and health by viewing real human bodies, preserved through an
>extraordinary method called "plastination."
>The exhibition features more than 200 authentic human specimens, including
>entire bodies as well as individual organs and transparent body slices. Using
>the revolutionary process of plastination, the body specimens are preserved
>with special plastics that enable us to view the many organs and systems
>under our skin. The exhibit also allows for guests to understand diseases,
>the effects of tobacco consumption, and use of artificial supports such as
>knees and hips.<<
>
>So....it's bodies and body parts. But not fake. Real parts from cadavers
>that have gone through this "plastination" process. There's even info at the
>exhibit for people who want to consider donating their body for this purpose.
>
>The entire-body displays (which were sometimes a skeleton with musculature
>intact; sometimes _just_ the circulatory system, preserved intact by a
>fascinating process involving a polymer which retains the shape of the system
>right down to the smallest, most hairlike capillaries; sometimes an
>"exploded" display containing all the organs) were displayed as art. A few
>were just standing unposed, but most were posed: as dancers, athletes, a
>teacher, a chess player, a remarkable one on a horse - which was also an
>exposed cadaver - and the most poignant and touching and painful one, a
>languidly reclining woman, eight months pregnant, with the fetus intact and
>showing. Both posed and unposed ones were often given artistic enhancements;
>for instance in one display, called "Winged Man," the musculature of the back
>was stretched out like wings so you could see what was underneath. It was
>strangely beautiful. Another, a woman posed as an archer (to show the
>taughtness of every muscle required in that action), had her brain sitting
>atop her head on display. Because of the arrow she was aiming, it seemed to
>me like a self-referential version of William Tell - she had something on top
>of her _own_ head to aim for, maybe? Anyway, it sounds awful but it was
>really quite interesting. We saw opened bodies posed as though clearing
>hurdles, riding bicycles, a family with a child on the father's shoulder
>(this display was ONLY their circulatory systems, intact and body shaped).
>My understanding from a friend who's a local physician is that doctors are
>flocking to this exhibit, because even for the surgeons, it's a markedly
>different picture of those bits and bobs they usually look at inside of us.
>
>Obviously, with the younger bodies on display (and most were young, except
>where they were making a point about the effects of aging), they'd all died
>either from an illness or an accident. And what was so notable to me was
>just how many of the lungs we saw, both the parts in display cases and the
>ones in bodies, that were blackened from tar. In point of fact, most of the
>bodies on display showed some degree of lung damage. That, and the memory of
>the sight of what extreme obesity can do to your organs and skeletal frame,
>are the visions I came home with last evening.
>
>It's enough to make you want to take much, much better care of yourself.
>
>We also saw two IMAX films while there: "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on
>the Moon" and "The Human Body." The moon one was great. The body one was a
>disappointment after that vivid and unique exhibit.
>
>I'm _really_ glad I saw the exhibit, although if I'd known more about it
>before going, I might have rescheduled my visit. Yesterday was my
>birthday-day-in-the-city (my birthday isn't actually until this Tuesday, but
>I always think of the Saturday before as the national holiday version of it
><g>). And, I came home in decidedly more of a funk than I'd planned, despite
>a lovely dinner afterwards (the Rose Tattoo Cafe in Philadelphia, if any
>locals are looking on - fabulous, romantic ambience, and every single course
>was a winner, well prepared and beautifully plated).
>
>Oh, a word about food, if Body Worlds comes to your town: we went to lunch
>right after leaving the Body Worlds exhibit, before viewing the rest of the
>museum. We found the local Whole Foods, and went into their cafe. And all I
>could eat after seeing _all_ of those bones with tendons and ligament and
>muscles and _meat_ still on them...was a small plate of spinach leaves and
>some chic peas. Gah. By dinnertime I'd recovered enough to have a loveloy,
>rare tuna steak, but I'm probably going to have to steer clear of chicken for
>a good couple of days. At least until I can forget those human bones that
>looked ALL too much like chicken bones after I've made a vat of soup! :-p
>
>More info: http://www.bodyworlds.com/
>
>Amy
>
Happy birthday Amy (I'm posting now, and hoping this will show up by
the time your birthday arrives) :)

-Wendy

.

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