Hello again, All! Here is the article in full. When you have the chance to read over it, I would appreciate your feedback. Thank you to all who wrote in with suggestions before! Sincerely, Julie Kendig Volunteer Coordinator Reuben H. Fleet Science Center 1875 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 238-1233 x. 835 [log in to unmask] Beyond Body Worlds: An Internal Look at the Controversial Exhibit or Experience From the Inside Out: One Visitor’s Commentary on Body Worlds It’s like a horror movie where children are welcome to attend. It’s also like a live encyclopedia where examples of every human body part are displayed right before your eyes. It’s Barnum & Bailey and Andreas Versalius all wrapped into one. What could be so grotesque, so educational, so controversial that over 15 million people would come to see it? It’s the exhibit Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies. Briefly stated, "The exhibition offers unique opportunities to uncover overcome taboos related to death1." Gunther Von Hagens is the mastermind behind the science. He is an inventor, political prisoner, pathologist, professor and director. He has acquired several patents through his tissue and cell preservation work. This exhibit has traveled from Asia to Europe with each culture reacting in its own way. The exhibit has systematic organization beginning with the body’s skeletal construction and locomotive functions. All the major human systems are revealed progressively, including the digestive system, nervous system and circulatory system. Finally the exhibit culminates with the reproductive system as if to end with the beginning and signal a recurring circular theme. An epilogue to the exhibit where Von Hagens pulls out all the stops reveals by far the largest and most animated specimen if through implication onlyæa plastinated horse and rider. Have you had the chance to see it on the web or in person? My recent visit was what I expected and more! I knew that I would dread the confrontation between preserved human flesh and my eyes. I also knew that I would follow through with the total experience. I went with a group of friends/co-workers, and we arrived on a dark and rainy dayæunusual for southern California. The admission line was long, and the hall was noisy. I didn’t mind the hubbub; it added a lively dimension to such a macabre exhibit. The usual LA suspects were presentæa group of massage therapists discovering the location of the kidney and how a deep tissue massage would affect it, a surgeon relaying suture practices to her under 12 daughter, an artist with wavy gray hair and black hat (quite similar to the one Von Hagens is never without) lugging his under 30 girlfriend. Everyone came to the California Science Center for the highly publicized event. The exhibit starts as a banner behind the ticketing counter. These banners displayed throughout the galleries quoted philosophical questions proposed across time as well as artistic detail in penæreflections that would be displayed in flesh and blood. The very first states, "____________________2." I waited by to eavesdrop on a woman explaining to her small children what they were about to experience. What would you say? No amount of Internet research could have prepared me for what I was about to see; it’s being there that puts the taste in your mouth. The exhibit is designed to include a warm-up display. The proverbial plastic skeleton used in junior high life science classes is the first character the visitor meets. After the skeleton, it’s straight into the good stuff. Those with strong stomachs and an eagerness to learn jump right in, while others apprehensively approach with ease. How amazing it is! There is nothing keeping the visitor from getting as close as they want to many of the specimens outside cases. The first toenail I spotted reminded me of the stories I heard as a kid about how curators would have to clip the nails and hair of Lenin as they grew for years even after his death. At one stop on the map a very enthralled visitor examining a strand of the nervous system was so close that his gentle breath made the tiny fragile nerve fibers sway to and fro. During the experience, there were many chances to recognize and understand the complexities of our own bodies and to observe similarities between the world of anatomy and the world of botany, for example. In fact one aim of the exhibit as set out by its publicists is that the public "becomes aware of the naturalness of [their] own bodies and recognizes the individuality and anatomical beauty inside3." In contrast there were many opportunities to humiliate those people who so willingly donated their bodies to science. One full body specimen posed with muscle fibers pulled away from the torso wing-like to reveal organs inside the chest cavity is decorated with a white straw hat. A cadaver has no voice, but would the man appreciate that? Was the hat a personal belonging? We will never know if the personality of the exhibit honors the personality of the donors, but my guess is that taken as a whole it probably does. Think about it. Have you ever met someone who doesn’t have a humorous, playful side? But then again, only the brave mock their own mortality. Additionally as museum professionals, should we question the integrity of the choices the exhibit designers adhered to? I’ve known museologists who are practical jokers, but I might be appalled if they incorporated such fool-hearty behavior into an exhibit design. Technically speaking, the preservation method is a modern marvel. Plastination has taken the field of anatomy several strides forward. It has been called a "second anatomical revolution4." At every level from anatomy lecture halls to public exhibition halls it has advanced understanding and enlightened knowledge-seekers from the lay visitor to the professional scientist. Plastination works to preserve cells by halting deterioration through a process of several steps that involve fixing, impregnation and curing the specimen. The total process requires over 1,500 hours of processing for each body. Fixation prepares the tissues in a cold solvent bath, usually acetone at very low temperatures, and works to prepare the specimen for the process. The specimen is first submerged in the liquid and contained for a given amount of time. The acetone dissolves and replaces bodily fluids and fatty matter. The specimen is then introduced to a solution such as silicon rubber or other polymers developed specifically for plastination. Then the temperature in the chamber is raised so that the acetone boils and is extracted through a vacuum. During this step, known as "forced impregnation," the polymer begins to fill in voids left by the evaporating acetone. Finally, the specimen is cured and the plastics are hardened with heat, gas or light. "When it is all done, the preservation is so complete an organ/specimen can still be observed at the microscopic level with all tissue cells perfectly preserved5," adds California Science Center interpreter, Christine DeCastro. Only though the development of space science have synthetic plastic products aided preservation scientists. Historically, biological materials were preserved by natural processes, as in the case of Native American brain tanning by way of the sun, or by chemical processes, as in the use of formaldehyde. Gunther Von Hagens invented the process of plastination in 1977 while completing his doctoral thesis at the University of Heidelberg. Dr. Von Hagens is respected and admired worldwide for his progressive discoveries. But here in the states, scientists and visitors alike criticize his choices. Many feel that his approach sensationalizes the study of health and human sciences to a ridiculous point. Others are worried about the effect Body Worlds will have on the outside perception of the field of anatomy. Nina Stoyan-Rosenweig of the J.H. Miller Health Science Center at the University of Florida, Gainesville, observes that doctors at the College of Medicine worry about the potential decline in donorship. She states, "The anatomists here have a very negative slant on Von Hagens, feeling that what he does is very disrespectful6." Respect, however, is difficult to measure. What criteria of respectability does one apply to this situation? Would the number of donors pledged because of this exhibit justify its means? Does a blanket statement about the anonymity of willing donors carry the respect certain visitors are looking ofr when considering their own mortality? Does adding a straw hat atop a cadaver decrease the amount of knowledge gained from a universally insightful museum experience? In my opinion, only the strong can appreciate its beauty; all others are forced to categorize their opinions into false pretenses. An anonymous contributor to the official Body Worlds website proposes, "Given the amount of time and care that went into preserving these bodies, it seems that they were treated with respect and they have the potential to increase the respect we feel toward them7." To give the reader a little more personal insight, I was disturbed by the female reproduction segment of the exhibit contained behind neutral white walls. I found myself calling into question the respectability of a certain pose of a pregnant woman swollen from 17 weeks of embryo development. I thought it was ironic, to say the least, repugnant to say the worst, that Von Hagens chose to pose the woman as a reclining beauty with one arm above her head. It was as if this very sexual position was mocking her exposed and now dead child. Yet, the caveat to it all is that if not for his exhibit I may have never gained the level of insight provided by the actual specimen. Can one fully understand the magnitude and repercussions of his/her daily habits and health choices until he/she has the experience of seeing the consequences in flesh and blood? It’s like opening the hood of an automobile for the first time. Nevertheless, insight, just like respect, is difficult to measure. All personal two cents aside, the exhibit left me in a state of gray. Even as I walk away, I may not remember to think of it again. When I am at home and watching a basketball game, will I remember the signature dangling kneecaps, the way the lips and mouth were opened just so, or the muscle posture of a layup? Maybe not. Was I supposed to leave with the knowledge that an inflamed heart is known as hypertrophy, or that the carotid arteries make up two of the four major blood paths to the brain, which requires 20% of the body’s supply? Yes and no. I have determined that while the aim of public and informal education is knowledge dissemination, I can walk away from a lecture, test, exhibit, or degree for that matter with exactly what I wantæquestions. And yet, while I remain inconclusive about any final judgement of the experience, I carry a new understanding of anatomy that can only be stored in my memory, told to other people I come in contact with and written about for those who are willing and interested enough to read. When it comes to Body Worlds, experience, knowledge and power all lay in the eyes and minds of visitors. Body Worlds 2 is at the California Science Center January 29 through March 27, 2005. Tickets and information can be sought on-line at http://www.californiasciencecenter.org. 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