Bodyworlds exhibit

The bit I quoted:
http://www.koerperwelten.de/en/pages/anreise.asp

[Vanquisher]

Looks like it is coming to St. Paul soon, so a lot of you girls will be able to check it out if you want. I think it looks extraordinary, amazing. I would love to go.

[Sheherezade]

I saw it when it was here. I believe that the exhibit had some info on the people. It was certainly explained that the people donated their bodies for the Bodyworlds exhibit. That said.....it was FREAKY for me. I have seen many bodies/organs/medical stuff, but this was just strange. I thought some of the exhibits - particularly the body with the back dissected and splayed in to *wings* bordered on offensive. (Angel) To me. I'm sure others could see the element of art.

I have no problem with the science/education portion. My children went and they were both profoundly affected by the smokers lung, healthy lung, and coal miner lung There will be no smokers in this house! (Or coal miners! ) The poses didn't bother me. What bothered me were the bodies that were "sculpted" to form other parts. (Clearly the Wing lady freaked me out!) I don't think flesh should be sculpted, and I didn't "get" the art from skinless bodies bit. I was also perturbed by the crowds. I go to the science museum often, and you don't normally see this many people (particularly adults without kids). I had to wonder if the rubber-necking you see at auto accidents came in to play in drawing some of the people to the exhibit.

My son (9) handled it but I felt the need to rush my daughter (6) out at the end. She was starting to get upset. I would recommend that parents judge carefully if their children will be able to handle the exhibit before bringing them. The mood was an odd mix of art museum and adult party (?); kids were relatively rare. The atmosphere was very different in Body Worlds than in the rest of the museum. There is a certain respect that must be paid to the "exhibits" and that makes for an unusual atmosphere.

I remember the healthy lung and smoker's lung from an elementary school presentation over 20 years ago. Burned in my memory. :: It worked on me!

[HeartRN]

I was curious about the ethics of it all, too...kind of interesting, in one portion of the site it sounds like the Bodyworlds dude sits and chats with people who are interested in donating their bodies for "plastination"....It's all very interesting, if not a bit (extremely!)....weird!!

PS I would still go if it came around my area....I wonder if my 2 1/2 year old would be interested???!!! She is, after all, either at preschool or with me!!! :!

[SuzySunshine]

My DH and I are going to see it in St. Paul in June. I must have missed this thread when it started because I hadn't heard about it until my sister told me about it, they're going to see it in Houston next month. DH is very intrigued by it.

I saw it with a girlfriend at the Franklin Institute here in Philly. It was absolutely fascinating. It was beautiful, and yes, a little disturbing. I didn't have to keep reminding myself that these were actual people, not models. You can see pores and skin and hair growing out of follicles. It's very impressive. They had an application enlarged toward the end of the exhibit. According to that, you can't indiscriminately donate your body for the purpose of plastination, you have to be accepted and they are somewhat discerning.
I had seen a documentary about Gunter von Hagen (who, incidentally, took his wife's name after they married) and have been curious about his methods ever since. It's very impressive, you have to wonder how they separate systems of the body... in one exhibit, you see a network of nerves in the shape of 3 human beings... a husband and wife with their arms around one another's waist and a child on the husband's shoulders.
The hard part for me was seeing plastinated children and babies. I'm a wimp and that was... difficult. I don't know that I'd bring a child under the age of 10 to the exhibit, but I'm not a parent.

[PrincessFiona]

I don't imagine that I will be heading over to the exhibit in St. Paul...it's just a little freaky to me. I saw a movie called...Anatomy or something a couple of years ago with Thomas and my mom. It was purely fictionaly, but it highlighted US medical students and their discovery of some secret, german, nazi club .... and supposedly, this plastination could only happen when a person was LIVING....in the film, the med students basically started kidnapping people..and they would knock them out...and start removing organs etc...the people would wake up in the middle of being hacked apart...

It was all to make these bodyworld exhibits kind of things...


and I was truly so traumatized by this movie (I know that sounds silly) that I developed...a phobia of general anesthesia I'm not kidding. Someone would literally have to hit me over the head with a hammer in order to put me under now....it just scared the bejeezus out of me. If I went to this exhibit, Kelly would have to pick me up and drive me straight to a psych ward...really....I'm such a freak..did I mention that?

kris

[houseelf]

Kris,

I'll be your date! I have to warn that I get the gag reflex much earlier than most. Of course, with five kids and a physician husband, there is probably very little that could gross you out!

Kelly

[Rapunzel]

I don't imagine that I will be heading over to the exhibit in St. Paul...it's just a little freaky to me. I saw a movie called...Anatomy or something a couple of years ago with Thomas and my mom. It was purely fictionaly, but it highlighted US medical students and their discovery of some secret, german, nazi club .... and supposedly, this plastination could only happen when a person was LIVING....in the film, the med students basically started kidnapping people..and they would knock them out...and start removing organs etc...the people would wake up in the middle of being hacked apart...

It was all to make these bodyworld exhibits kind of things...


and I was truly so traumatized by this movie (I know that sounds silly) that I developed...a phobia of general anesthesia I'm not kidding. Someone would literally have to hit me over the head with a hammer in order to put me under now....it just scared the bejeezus out of me. If I went to this exhibit, Kelly would have to pick me up and drive me straight to a psych ward...really....I'm such a freak..did I mention that?

kris

Good grief! What an awful movie! That's why I never watch horror movies. Even Serenity gave me nightmares....

[PrincessFiona]

I know. It wasn't even a horror movie...or at least it wasn't advertised as such. (I can't watch horror movies...they make me freak out!). We didn't realize what it would be until we were about 1/2 way through and then they kept watching. Eventually, I went into the other room, but we lived in a small house and I could still hear it through the walls. It upset me so much and both my mom and dh thought I was being silly.

kris

[alison]

Anatomie is downright creepy. Scared the crap out of me! I would have huddled in a corner with you, Kris!
When I was studying in Heidelberg a few years ago, the von Hagens exhibit was traveling within Germany. I never went, although dh went many times when it was in Cologne. He found it educational and really urged me to go but it's not my thing; I have seen photographs and shows about the exhibit but I don't think my stomach would be able to handle it in person...

The Germans I know who were originally really excited about the exhibit have sort of turned against von Hagens in recent years after all the stuff about the origin of the bodies was revealed. It turns out that the guy lost his position at the university in Heidelberg (you can have a doctorate, but being a professor is a different thing)--and from what I've heard misrepresented himself as a professor from the university and has been embroiled in lawsuits with the university.

[Rapunzel]

The Germans I know who were originally really excited about the exhibit have sort of turned against von Hagens in recent years after all the stuff about the origin of the bodies was revealed. It turns out that the guy lost his position at the university in Heidelberg (you can have a doctorate, but being a professor is a different thing)--and from what I've heard misrepresented himself as a professor from the university and has been embroiled in lawsuits with the university.

Interesting thing to know....

My husband works with a number of Belgian and German docs (and other docs from European nations) and I think the scuttlebutt he's heard on the ethical problems of this particular "show" (and, I think on some level it qualifies as a freak show) has been from these docs (along with a couple of his peers who also make frequent trips to China).

[Meenah]

I'm also a little apprehensive, but I am going on Monday.
Luanne

[Meenah]

I went today, and as nervous as I was I cannot believe how much I enjoyed it. I went with a friend who is in the Nurse Practitioner program with me. For us it was very clinical and spectacular.
Luanne