2008 Woodie Awards
"Universe Within" embodies bodies
Witte Museum exhibit explores human corpses, plastination
Brian Thompson
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Trinity Life
They say beauty is only skin deep. After that, it's just muscle, tendon and bone, and until May 26, the Witte Museum will prove that to you. "Our Body: The Universe Within" an exhibit of actual human bodies preserved through a process known as plastination, has been drawing record numbers to the museum.
According to Jim Dalglish, vice president of Communications, approximately 4,000 people visit the exhibit, which opened Jan. 26, every weekend. Dalglish said that many factors are responsible for drawing crowds.
"Curiosity, maybe a sense of morbidity, the intellectual experience, as well as seeing things that doctors and scientists only see all attract people," Dalglish said.
According to Dalglish, many medical professionals have visited the exhibit and commented on its accuracy. Dalglish also said that most visitors he has observed come away with a sense of reverence for the human body.
Twelve bodies are staged in various poses, such as riding a bicycle or throwing a baseball.
Robert Blystone, professor of biology, said that posed bodies are easier for viewers to take in.
"By displaying them in unusual ways, you can lessen the tension some people feel about being around a dead body," Blystone said.
Blystone said that some of these exhibits have educational value, while others are more theatrical. According to Blystone, the inventor of the plastination process, Gunther von Hagens, has dissected and mounted a horse and rider.
"To have a body mounted on a horse that is also plastinated is exquisitely theatrical," Blystone said.
Plastination replaces a body's water and lipids with plastics, which are initially flexible but harden during the process. The resulting specimen retains minute details of the original organs and vessels, has no odor and will not decay.
Blystone said that these shows have generated more revenue for science museums than any other type of exhibit, despite criticism. One of the main criticisms of von Hagens' own touring exhibit, Body Worlds, is the source of the cadavers. Von Hagens owns a plastination facility in Dalian, China and has been accused of using corpses of executed Chinese prisoners for his shows.
According to Jim Dalglish, vice president of Communications, approximately 4,000 people visit the exhibit, which opened Jan. 26, every weekend. Dalglish said that many factors are responsible for drawing crowds.
"Curiosity, maybe a sense of morbidity, the intellectual experience, as well as seeing things that doctors and scientists only see all attract people," Dalglish said.
According to Dalglish, many medical professionals have visited the exhibit and commented on its accuracy. Dalglish also said that most visitors he has observed come away with a sense of reverence for the human body.
Twelve bodies are staged in various poses, such as riding a bicycle or throwing a baseball.
Robert Blystone, professor of biology, said that posed bodies are easier for viewers to take in.
"By displaying them in unusual ways, you can lessen the tension some people feel about being around a dead body," Blystone said.
Blystone said that some of these exhibits have educational value, while others are more theatrical. According to Blystone, the inventor of the plastination process, Gunther von Hagens, has dissected and mounted a horse and rider.
"To have a body mounted on a horse that is also plastinated is exquisitely theatrical," Blystone said.
Plastination replaces a body's water and lipids with plastics, which are initially flexible but harden during the process. The resulting specimen retains minute details of the original organs and vessels, has no odor and will not decay.
Blystone said that these shows have generated more revenue for science museums than any other type of exhibit, despite criticism. One of the main criticisms of von Hagens' own touring exhibit, Body Worlds, is the source of the cadavers. Von Hagens owns a plastination facility in Dalian, China and has been accused of using corpses of executed Chinese prisoners for his shows.
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