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Body Worlds

Body Worlds is an exhibit of preserved human bodies like this one.
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Body Worlds is an exhibit of preserved human bodies like this one.

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 anatomical 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. More than 20 million people have seen one of the Body Worlds exhibits, which together have taken in $200 million.[1]

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.[2] 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, organs, and organ systems, some having 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 eight 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, for laymen or medical professionals respectively.

The exhibits were featured in a supposed Miami exhibition in the 2006 film Casino Royale, although the actual location for the exterior shots was the Ministry of Transport in Prague.

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. 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 (this latter led to a lawsuit against Der Spiegel, which von Hagens won). 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; in the case of children informed consent would have to have been obtained from their parents.

The exhibit has also been accused of perpetuating gender stereotypes.[3] The male plastinates are presented in active, "manly" and heroic roles (such as ‘the horseman’, ‘muscleman’, ‘the swordsman’, ‘the runner’ and ‘the chess player’) while some of the female plastinates are shown in the context of motherhood, beauty and passivity (such as 'the ballerina' who is actually wearing pink ballerina slippers; 'pregnant woman' a plastinate whose womb is exposed to show her unborn child and 'angel' whose feet are posed as if she were wearing high heels, complete with bits of her feet shaped into stilettos). There are, however, women portrayed as athletes, namely the swimmer, the figure skater and the archer.

There have been concerns regarding regulations for bodies exhibits in general. [[3]]Reporting from Dalian, China for the NYTimes, David Barboza described "a ghastly new underground mini-industry" with "little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs." [4] There have also been legal process problems with these displays. State Anatomical boards normally oversee the handling of bodies for medical purposes and have objected to the lack of oversight for bodies for public display. Dr. Todd Olson, director of the Anatomical Committee of the New York Associated Medical Schools (NYAMS), suggests that without state or federal laws “you have no documentation of who this is”. In addition, there are claims that the exhibit of bodies for commercial profit has reduced the donations of bodies for medical learning. [5] The Director of North Carolina State Board of Funeral Services, Paul Harris, stated "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents," Harris said. "That's a reasonable standard to apply." [6]

International Trade experts object to the way bodies-for-commercial-display are imported because the way their categorization codes, as "art collections" don't require CDC stamps and death certificates that are required for medical cadavers. [7]

In an ethical analysis, Thomas Hibbs, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Culture at Baylor University, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to “the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance.” [8]

Lucia Tanassi, Professor of Medical Ethics and Anthropology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, explores in a 2006 lecture "Plasti-Nation: How America was Won" [9], questions for ethicists regarding this new scientific frontier reshaping the social anatomy of the body and the biopolitical ground that it occupies. She calls it provocative how ethics committees have contributed to the popularization of the exhibits without setting forth any process of a line of inquiry, pointing to an ethics report from the California Science Center. As part of that review, bioethicist Hans Martin Sass, was sent to Heidelberg to match donor consents with death certificates. However, there was no actual body count, matching body inventory with paperwork. [10] She states that the Institute for Plastination does not have even a basic level of documentation that is routine for anatomical labs, such as tagging.

There have also been concerns regarding the educational aspect of these exhibits, especially regarding the inclusion of these displays for school field trips. In North Carolina the Superintendent of Public Instruction stated that she 'would not recommend this material for school field trips. [11] St. Louis Diocese Archbishop Raymond Burke strongly suggests that Catholic Schools avoid scheduling field trips, as cadaver exhibits raise serious questions for Catholics. [12] Concerned with how 'some kids process' these 'graphic' images, Des McKay, School Superintendent in Abbotsford British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver, barred field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings. [13] In an editorial to the Abbotsford News, Rev. Christoph Reiners questions what affect the exhibits will have on the values of children attending for school field trips. [14]

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.[4]

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.[15] 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.

Various religious groups, including the Catholic Church[5] and some Jewish Rabbis[6] have objected to the display, stating that it cheapens human life, is inconsistent with reverence towards the human body, and is more artistic and exploitative than educational.

Where and when banned or newly regulated

State of Florida, USA: [16] 7/1/2007
State of Washington, USA:[17] 2007 (pending)
City of San Francisco, California, USA:[18] (2005)

Notable exhibits

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 Skin Man

A man, standing is holding out his body's skin, for he is but muscle and bones.

The Archer

This plastinate is another of the 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

Winged Man

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.

Reclining Pregnant Woman

The pregnant woman
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The pregnant woman

One of the more controversial exhibits is a woman who is 8-months pregnant, lying on her side with her arm propping her upper body up (reclining). 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.[7]

The Skateboarder

Displays a teen performing a skateboarding move on a ramp. His muscles are visible and nothing seems to have been cut.

The Basketball Player

Displays a man dribbling a basketball and posed as if running down the court, with his skull opened to expose the brain. Pictures of him appear frequently in the official artwork and publicity materials for Body Worlds.

The Muscleman and His Skeleton

Displays a man's musculature and skeleton side by side in the same pose.

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, "Cuerpos entrañables" in Spain, and "Our Body: The Universe Within" in Detroit.

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 can not 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, Miami, New York City, and Seattle. Other exhibition sites in 2006 are Mexico City, Atlanta (GA), London, Great Britain and Las Vegas (Nevada).[8]

One Australian company's exhibition, 'The Amazing Human Body' inadvertently raised awareness of the practice in China of using executed prisoners' remains without informed consent. There is virtually no waiting list for organ transplant in China. The company's exhibits are from China.

References

http://www.amazinghumanbody.com.au/ http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/113853_comment.php

  1. ^ "China Turns Out Mummified Bodies for Displays", New York Times, August 8, 2006
  2. ^ "Bodydonation"
  3. ^ Megan Stern: "Shiny, happy people. ‘Body Worlds’ and the commodification of health.", Radical Philosophy, 118, March/April 2003
  4. ^ Pressemitteilung, Deutscher Journalisten-Verband, 25 August 2003
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ [2]
  7. ^ The "I Quit" Program, April 27, 2007.
  8. ^ Bodies The Exhibition sites

Further reading

  • Body Worlds - The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies by Gunther von Hagens Amazon-UK ASIN: B000Q2MCDU
  • 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 Worl.ds, in German.
  • Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca: Wachsfigur - Mensch - Plastinat. Über die Mitteilbarkeit von Sehen, Nennen und Wissen, in: Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte (1999), Heft 1.
  • Doms, Misia Sophia: Die Ausstellung „Körperwelten“ und der Umgang mit der endlichen Leiblichkeit. In: Volkskunde in Rheinland Pfalz 17/1 (2002). S. 62-108.
  • Liselotte Hermes da Fonseca und Thomas Kliche (Hg.): Verführerische Leichen – verbotener Verfall. "Körperwelten" als gesellschaftliches Schlüsselereignis, Lengerich u.a.: Pabst Verlag 2006


External links and sources


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