Body Worlds
Artistic Expression of Hard
Science
by Julie Sculley
Currently on display at the Houston Museum of
Natural Science is Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds
3: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies.
This exhibit is set to run through September 4, and
features over 200 specimens of individual organs,
organ systems, and entire human bodies, preserved by
von Hagens’ ground-breaking preservation technique
called plastination.
Artistic expression or hard science? Taking in
the often shockingly dramatic exhibits, one is
forced to ask this fundamental question. Alternately
fascinating and macabre, the journey through Body
Worlds overwhelms the viewer with a parade of
whole-body plastinations posed to present pictures
of human activity both mundane and extreme. One of
the most memorable is The Skin Man. This specimen is
of a man in full stride, all musculature exposed,
with his entire, intact skin draped casually over
one up-stretched arm, resembling a full-length
overcoat. Other exhibit elements include skin
removed fully or partially, muscle layers cut and
reflected back to expose organs or skeletal elements
underneath, eyeballs set in skeletal sockets, skulls
cut away to reveal the preserved brain inside,
carefully cut-out lips adding expression to
otherwise skinless faces, whole organ systems
displayed intact, and entire figures in an
“exploded” or pulled-apart view.
Especially fascinating and beautiful are the
preserved circulatory systems, appearing as
delicate, scarlet, lacework facsimiles of the animal
or human body part from which they originated.
Many specimens make plain the cause of death of
the individual that they came from. Cancerous
kidneys, livers, lungs, breasts, and abdominal
cavities encased in thin plastic slices reveal
deadly malignant masses. Livers, scarred from years
of substance abuse or lumpy with tumors are shown as
entire specimens. Likewise, malformed or diseased
kidneys line one display case; while in another,
enlarged, diseased hearts are opened to expose the
valves inside. A thin, plastinated slice taken
lengthwise, head to toe, from the body of a morbidly
obese man effectively illustrates the inherent
repercussions resulting from overeating. Arguably
the most poignant displays are those of smoker’s
lungs. Sickeningly black with tar, tattered by
emphysema or filled with tumors and shown in their
entirety or in slices, these grotesque specimens are
a singularly effective smoking deterrent.
Other noteworthy exhibits, each with a fairly
obvious intent, include a group of gentlemen, all
flayed, some with exposed brains, smoker’s lungs,
spines, etc., jauntily positioned about a table,
smoking and surrounded by drinks while engaged in a
card game. One might infer from the selected
dissections that a lifestyle of drinking and
gambling are not particularly healthy. The most
imposing is a magnificent rearing horse, easily 18
hands high, with a rider astride him. Both are
flayed, the horse’s magnificent musculature exposed,
and the rider is presented in an “exploded” or
pulled-apart view. The rider is gazing down at his
own brain held in his outstretched right hand, while
in his left hand he holds the smaller brain of the
horse. Any layperson can easily see the lesson in
comparative anatomy in how both horse and man are
essentially structured the same, but with vastly
different proportions.
Surrounded by controversy due to ethical and
moral issues raised by the displays, Body Worlds
exhibits have attracted millions of visitors around
the world since 1996. Touted as an anatomical
display of the human body of scientific
significance, many detractors argue that the
often-whimsical feel to the exhibits constitutes a
lack of respect for the deceased. It is however, the
manner of dissection and subsequent presentation of
the dissected figures that is a major source of the
controversy.
There has also been some speculation that some of
van Hagens’ early specimens were the bodies of
executed Chinese. While he denies that any exhibits
have ever been created from such cadavers, van
Hagens does acknowledge that it is possible that
some may have been dropped off at a production
facility in Northeastern China. It is important to
note that Body Worlds expressly denies this claim.
Supporters argue that all the cadavers are the
remains of individuals that gave informed consent to
be preserved in this manner prior to their deaths.
The Institute for Plastination located in
Heidelberg, Germany currently has a donor list of
over 6500 individuals including 142 Americans.
Although positioned “artfully,” the context of the
exhibits is scientific, each one presented with a
carefully prepared explanation of what anatomical
feature is illustrated, and why it has been prepared
in the manner shown. Faces have been rendered
unrecognizable by way of strategic dissection in
order to distinguish each subject as a specimen and
not as a corpse.
Artistic presentations of the dead are not
without historical precedent. Fanciful anatomical
renderings were common during the renaissance era.
In fact, a likely image of inspiration for Skin Man
comes from Anatomia del corpo humano, a 16th century
anatomical volume by the Spanish anatomist Juan
Valverde de Amusco and illustrated by Gaspar
Becerra. This illustration depicts a skinless man
with carefully illustrated musculature,
contemplating his own skin held in his upraised
right hand, a dagger held in the other.
Also analogous to Body World’s plastinates is the
artistic usage of skeletal remains in bone
repositories known as ossuaries. An Ossuary in Kutna
Hora, Czech, festooned by unimaginable arrangements
of bone including a chandelier, a huge coat of arms,
columns, and many other architectural adornments
fashioned from as many as 40,000 individuals, makes
an awe-inspiring spectacle. Another ossuary sporting
a less impressive array of bones laid out in various
designs made from the remains of about 25,000 dead
exists in the catacombs beneath the San Franciscan
Monastery in Lima, Peru.
Historically, mankind has sought to preserve the
living image of the deceased through the usage of
various preservative substances such as honey, wax,
alcohol, oils, salts, herbs, and spices. Today,
culturally accepted embalming utilizes special
chemicals injected into the body’s circulatory
system in order to achieve a superficially similar
effect. Ancient cultures such as that of the
Egyptians, mummified their dead in order to ensure
that the deceased would have a body for its rebirth
in the afterlife, whereas modern embalming is
performed for the sake of presentation at the time
of mourning and for sanitary reasons.
In contrast, plastination begins with the
carefully planned dissection of the subject. Next,
all fluids and soluble fats are extracted, after
which the tissues are forcibly impregnated with
special polymers using a vacuum system. At this
stage, the body is still pliable, and is posed for
presentation. To preserve the pose, this step is
followed by heat, light or gas curing, which will
harden the specimen. The end result is an
astonishingly well-preserved body with all tissues
retaining their natural color and dimensions.
Von Hagens’ original intent, however was not to
perfect the embalming process. He developed
plastination to preserve medical specimens for study
by medical students in such a manner that they would
withstand decomposition indefinitely and be
conveniently handled. However, after taking note of
the generally positive reaction by the public to
these plastinated specimens, von Hagens conceived of
the idea to create aesthetically interesting
exhibitions that, in his words, would “avoid
shocking the public and capture their imagination.”
Taken in its entirety, Body Worlds 3 represents a
fantastic voyage through the subjects of anatomy,
health, and at its core basic humanity. Presented
with an artistic expression that is both
aesthetically alluring and at times repulsive, it is
inarguably fascinating. A note of caution; however,
it would not be advisable to bring younger children,
as they would not have the ability to correctly
interpret the exhibit’s content. For older children,
particularly teenagers, Body Worlds would provide a
vastly different educational perspective on human
biology than that available in public schools. Given
the controversy generated by this exhibit, it is up
to each individual to judge its value.
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