gameFACE
03-14-2006, 12:24 AM
I was in Houston a couple of weekends ago and I saw this exhibit by accident, really. I had heard about it before but had no idea it was in town. It kicked ass. It’s a display of actual human bodies that have been plastinated. Twenty years ago this wouldn’t have taken place. I recommend it to anyone! There was an article about it in the SA Express-News today. If you’re in Houston you should really consider checking this out! Here are some excerpts from the article:
(full article) (http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/stories/MYSA031306.01P.bodies.d77c901.html)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/images/storypics/0313bodyworlds.jpg
Once reserved for physicians in training and other medical personnel, learning from human cadavers is now an option for the public thanks to German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens. His latest works are featured in "Body Worlds 3: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" running at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Sept. 4.
The showcase of more than 200 skinned human corpses, body parts and organs is made possible by plastination, a preservation method that replaces bodily fluids with silicon rubber and epoxy that von Hagens developed in 1977. The process essentially halts decomposition, freezing the bodies in time. And for some, the result is far from palatable.
Photos of the permanently preserved corpses — a skateboarder in a precarious upside-down position, a basketball player driving to the hoop, a man at leisure — often elicit reactions ranging from disgust to morbid fascination. But those who've actually seen the curious cadavers say any squeamishness quickly fades, to be replaced by fascination with the awesome capacity of the human body.
http://www.wdr1.com/blog/img/bodyworlds.jpg
(This one isn’t actually in the exhibit but I thought it looked like Kobe)
Some critics have said displaying human remains in public anatomical exhibits is unethical and disrespectful of the dead. In Europe, "Body Worlds" drew protests from Catholic and Protestant churches. But Charleen M. Moore, a professor in the department of cellular and structural biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center who co-wrote research papers based on "Body Worlds" and von Hagens about the connection among art, anatomy and religion, considers the exhibit "a well-preserved, beautifully prepared, nontoxic way to study human bodies."
http://www.npr.org/programs/day/features/2004/jul/human_body/main2.jpg
Justin Nash, who volunteers at the Houston exhibit's Health Desk, the hands-on station where visitors can touch a plastinated kidney, liver and upper abdomen, says it's the ultimate anatomy lesson because it helps people understand the human body from the inside out.
"A lot of people enjoy being able to feel the approximate weight and size of the kidney, and the liver also is terrific because it's the second-largest organ of the body after our skin and quite heavy at a little more than 3 pounds," says Nash. (This was pretty cool - gF)
http://www.bodyworlds.com/images/shared/hautmann1.jpg
http://www.bodyworlds.com/images/shared/hautmann2.jpg
Would you donate you're body? I guess I probably wouldn't.
(full article) (http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/stories/MYSA031306.01P.bodies.d77c901.html)
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/images/storypics/0313bodyworlds.jpg
Once reserved for physicians in training and other medical personnel, learning from human cadavers is now an option for the public thanks to German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens. His latest works are featured in "Body Worlds 3: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" running at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Sept. 4.
The showcase of more than 200 skinned human corpses, body parts and organs is made possible by plastination, a preservation method that replaces bodily fluids with silicon rubber and epoxy that von Hagens developed in 1977. The process essentially halts decomposition, freezing the bodies in time. And for some, the result is far from palatable.
Photos of the permanently preserved corpses — a skateboarder in a precarious upside-down position, a basketball player driving to the hoop, a man at leisure — often elicit reactions ranging from disgust to morbid fascination. But those who've actually seen the curious cadavers say any squeamishness quickly fades, to be replaced by fascination with the awesome capacity of the human body.
http://www.wdr1.com/blog/img/bodyworlds.jpg
(This one isn’t actually in the exhibit but I thought it looked like Kobe)
Some critics have said displaying human remains in public anatomical exhibits is unethical and disrespectful of the dead. In Europe, "Body Worlds" drew protests from Catholic and Protestant churches. But Charleen M. Moore, a professor in the department of cellular and structural biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center who co-wrote research papers based on "Body Worlds" and von Hagens about the connection among art, anatomy and religion, considers the exhibit "a well-preserved, beautifully prepared, nontoxic way to study human bodies."
http://www.npr.org/programs/day/features/2004/jul/human_body/main2.jpg
Justin Nash, who volunteers at the Houston exhibit's Health Desk, the hands-on station where visitors can touch a plastinated kidney, liver and upper abdomen, says it's the ultimate anatomy lesson because it helps people understand the human body from the inside out.
"A lot of people enjoy being able to feel the approximate weight and size of the kidney, and the liver also is terrific because it's the second-largest organ of the body after our skin and quite heavy at a little more than 3 pounds," says Nash. (This was pretty cool - gF)
http://www.bodyworlds.com/images/shared/hautmann1.jpg
http://www.bodyworlds.com/images/shared/hautmann2.jpg
Would you donate you're body? I guess I probably wouldn't.