Exploitation,
art or science?

updated 1:29 p.m. ET May 9, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Nine-year-old Alyssa Kim traces her finger near the inside of a spliced cadaver, adeptly identifying each part of the digestive system.

“The stomach is on the other side — and that’s the liver,” says the plucky youngster, seemingly unfazed to be surrounded by preserved bodies and organs in an exhibition hall.

The home-schooled girl and her family are among thousands visiting “The Universe Within,” one of at least three “corpse exhibits” now touring the country. The collection of bodies and organs in San Francisco was once used to instruct medical students in Beijing.

The exhibits have been wildly successful. The “Body Worlds” shows currently on view in Chicago and Cleveland claim more than 16 million visitors in 27 cities in Asia, Europe and Los Angeles. “The Universe Within,” whose recent opening prompted copycat complaints from “Body Worlds” organizers, is proving popular as well.

The proliferation of such shows raises questions: Are they art, exploitation or science? Do they speak to our innate fascination with the human body, a voyeuristic desire for a cheap thrill or our fear of death?

“Americans have been remarkably shielded from the most visceral imagery generated by 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq, which has been printed and broadcast elsewhere,” said David Skal, a horror scholar and author of “Screams of Reason: Mad Science in Modern Culture.”

“People are being torn apart daily, but the only places to bear witness seem to be exhibits like ’Body Worlds’ and splatter movies.”

Preserved in plastic
The shows got their start when “Body Worlds,” invented by Gunther von Hagens, was displayed in Japan in 1996. The enigmatic German anatomist has faced numerous ethical complaints in his home country and elsewhere.

Von Hagens was recently fined in Germany for misusing the title “professor” by not making it clear that his degree was awarded in China. He said he was innocent. He was also dubbed “Dr. Frankenstein” for performing Britain’s first public autopsy in more than 170 years.

Von Hagens is also facing criticism in Poland, where he bought an abandoned factory he said he wants to use to build machines for preserving bodies. Residents are upset that corpses may one day be processed in western Poland — something now handled in China.

The criticism hasn’t stopped his shows from growing and branching out — the “Body Worlds 2” exhibit features different displays, including cadavers and organs that show the consequences of poor health habits.

The corpses in all the exhibits were preserved through “plastination,” which replaces body fluids with liquid plastic. The plastic is hardened, leaving tissues intact. Bodies can then be displayed without formaldehyde or glass containers, so onlookers can come within inches of exposed organs.

In the San Francisco show, many corpses are stripped of skin so the muscles pop out. Several bodies are propped up like department store mannequins, and individual organs are displayed with veins and capillaries intact. Red veins spread like moss over one skeleton, while a green liver and blue kidneys are presented with their connective systems — a three-dimensional presentation that could never be offered in a medical textbook.

Some of the cadavers are macabre — one nonchalantly holds his preserved skin on a clothes hanger, while a nearby corpse rides a bicycle.

“I certainly think these exhibits are art,” said Kevin Moore, an instructor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and an expert on surrealism. “If the bodies were just used anatomically, there would be no reason to pose or light them the way they do. It’s intended to be viewed as art.”

Moore concedes that the sculptures probably couldn’t be purchased like paintings, but given the high fees charged at each of the exhibits, “it’s still for sale in a sense.” Body Worlds charges $21 for general admission to the Chicago and Cleveland shows.

MORE FROM MORE HEALTH NEWS

More Health News Section Front

CDC: Pet frogs source of salmonella outbreak   1 in 5 on Medicare rehospitalized in one month   Feds probing chemical levels in Zhu Zhu toys FDA warns of problems with sterilization device Drugmakers move to curb painkiller abuse Man controlled robotic hand with thoughts Dying man robbed in ER waiting room How med students learn from cadavers Constipation may be tied to Parkinson’s Coma recovery case attracts doubters More Health News Section Front   Add More Health News headlines to your news reader: