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Human beings, it seems, have always been interested in their innards. We view human interiors with a mixture of horror and fascination. Now technology (and some offbeat personalities) has made it possible for many people to see other honest-to-goodness human bodies with the hood wide open.
In the early days of anatomical drawings, bodies were often shown smiling, cavorting, and peeling off their skins with coy looks on their faces (as if removing mere clothes). Later anatomical drawings got much more serious, and displays of cadavers became downright grave. Now a fellow by the name of Gunther von Haagen Hagen has come full circle by presenting real preserved cadavers posed in situations natural to bizzare.
Mr. von Haagen’s Hagen’s exhibits, called BodyWorlds, have certainly attracted attention. One skinless man observes his own removed skin. A dissected corpse goes up for a slam-dunk. And a human riding on a dead horse holds his own brain in one hand and that of the horse in the other. All of this is made possible by a new preservation technique called plastination that preserves tissue perfectly and in living color.
Many condemn BodyWorlds and its creator as irreverent and sensational. Others praise him for making such fascinating and educational displays. Gorgeous or ghoulish, the exhibits draw record crowds. Check it out for yourself, but be forewarned— this is not for the faint-of-heart.
BodyWorlds web site (includes a calendar of events— when will BodyWorlds come to your town?)
Dream Anatomy exhibit by the National Library of Medicine
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Hmm, I wouldn’t exactly call plastination a new preservation technique. I thought it’s been used for a few years now? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastination Still is pretty cool. I want to see one of these exhibits in person after having taken an anatomy class…
He’s been using this technique since 1996, but I’d still call that “new,” particularly considering that many people have never heard of it. NPR’s All Things Considered did an interesting piece on this, where he touches on the fact that he knew some of the people personally before he plastinated them, including his best friend.
NPR’s All Things Considered did an interesting piece on this, where he touches on the fact that he knew some of the people personally before he plastinated them, including his best friend.”
I think I saw a PBS show on this or something. I think he (von Hagen) is also going to be plastinated when he dies.
Are there any other people doing plastination exhibits like this? I seem to recall there to be some sort of problem when an exhibit showed in SF. Ah, here it is:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=3355282
Seems like they weren’t associated w/von Hagen though…
DMG, that story is icky. Does seem to be about von Haagen, tho.
I came across a web site where some other guy was also doing this, a doctor H-something or whatever, but I couldn’t find it again. He had some amazing pictures of sectioned bodies.
I couldn’t recall the details, but there were hints of some juicy scandals that I came across. These included claims that his dad or grandfather or someone was in the SS… and another that von Haagen hadn’t gotten everybody’s permission slip before dissecting them. He rebutted the latter, don’t know about the former.
Bryan Lowder said: “DMG, that story is icky. Does seem to be about von Haagen, tho.
Nope. Follow-up link: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=3355277
Anyway, your “doctor H-something” sounds like it could actually be…von Hagen himself! Looks like he has a lot of controversy surrounding him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_von_Hagen
I’ve got you under my skin! I’ve got you deep in the heart of me! So deep in my heart that you’re really a part of me! I’ve got you under my skin!
It is in Philadelphia now and I plan on seeing it. I have not heard any issues over it and it is advertised on buses, billboards and big spreads in the News Papers. The Philly area, dodging bullets is a sport.
Anyway, because I have Fibromyalgia, and looking at the posters at my Rheumatologists’ office just does not seem to help me understand muscle movement and layers, I am hoping this will give me more insight into muscles and how they layer and so forth.
Maybe I won’t come away with any information about my disease but I also want to get over my queeziness at funerals and such. After something like this, a funeral should be a lot easier. (And no, at funerals it does not mattter if I did not know the person; I get the same ready to faint, bolt, cry uncontrollably and unable to offer any comfort to the family scenario.)
I made myself go to the Hollocaust Museum in DC twice. I will never do it again. But now I KNOW what man is capable of and just how easily and far reaching insanity, dangerous thinking, moral corruption and the ability to do anything to anyone to save ones own life from the very things that he does to another can spread. I read recently (maybe here) that there is MORE SLAVERY TODAY than during the entire Trans-Atlantic slavery machine. What a joke to think mankind has come so far as to that never happenning again.
Dr H. is not irreverant or sensational and I believe he is doing a great service to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to look into the human body without working in an E.R. or Morgue and so on which obviously I would not be able to do if I can’t pull off a funeral. Also, seeing this will strengthen me in an emergency situation to help someone else no matter how horrid the situation is; hopefully.
Thanks for posting this article!!
DMG, thanks for the clarification. Sorry about misspelling the name, also. I swear I saw another website– perhaps it was Perner’s… maybe I’ll find it again sometime.
JustAnother Name, thank you for enriching the article with your unique perspective. Best wishes.
And…
Josh Harding said: “I’ve got you under my skin! I’ve got you deep in the heart of me! So deep in my heart that you’re really a part of me! I’ve got you under my skin!”
BAD JOSH! NO BISCUIT! BAD JOSH!!!
Just saw it on display in NYC. Too cool. They show baby fetuses preserved by the same technique…even a pregnant woman cut open to show the baby inside. They also had diseased organs on display, like lungs infected with cancer. It sounds gruesome but it’s actually very fascinating. It wasn’t gross at all.
ballaerina said: “Just saw it on display in NYC. Too cool. They show baby fetuses preserved by the same technique…even a pregnant woman cut open to show the baby inside. They also had diseased organs on display, like lungs infected with cancer. It sounds gruesome but it’s actually very fascinating. It wasn’t gross at all.”
OK, I saw this in Chicago, and I was creeped out! But that is probably just me, my 11 year old daughter enjoyed the exhibit very much. There is a good bit of medicine and science presented. It is not just a freak show. Like Ballaerina says, it is not gross. These things look more like very detailed plastic models.
Yea i saw this exibit. they even had this thing where they only had the viens of the person/chicken/other it was really weird….they even had posters and t-shirts in the gift shop. imagine that…. having a pic of your dismantled dead body hanging on somone’s wall *shiver*
it gave me nightmares for awhile when i saw the one in the pic. that was the one that bothered me the most. oh and the ones of little babies with desieses ugh
I don’t think there is any other group doing plastination, because Von Hagen invented the process of plastinating formerly living tissue.
I saw the exhibit here in Los Angeles, and was really impressed with it. The delicacy of some of the details preserved was truly amazing. And the preserved lungs from smokers doubly convinced me to never smoke a single cigarette in my life.
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I don’t know. I hate meusams (personal opinion) even though they are great for society. Sounds like a mueseum exihibit. Good for science? Does it help society? Best use of donated corpses for medicen? Useful?
Hey – Are the nude bodies porn or science? opps bad joke!
If you want to see the exhibit, and it’s not coming to a museum near you, buy or rent “Casino Royale” (2006). When Bond follows a villain to Miami, they visit the Body Worlds exhibit – the first time actual corpses have appeared in a Bond film, according to IMDb.