MILWAUKEE
- We’ve all seen human skeletons made of plastic and organs made
of rubber, but for a true eye-opening view of the human body,
nothing beats BODY WORLDS.
Created by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, this first-of-its-kind
exhibition is the culmination of the German scientist and
physician’s 33-year career in anatomy. BODY WORLDS, which opened
last week at the Milwaukee Public Museum, presents more than 200
authentic specimens, including organs and whole body specimens,
that have undergone plastination - von Hagens’ method of halting
decomposition and preserving the body after death for medical
study, which he invented in 1977.
Dan Finley, president and CEO of the Milwaukee Public Museum,
compared the exhibit to the opening of the museum’s planetarium,
which allows people to view outer space.
"Here today, with BODY WORLDS, we have the opportunity to
explore inner space," he said at a Jan. 17 press conference.
"This is a most stunning and important exhibition."
BODY WORLDS’ plastinates provide visitors with an
unprecedented learning tool for understanding how the body works
and how lifestyle choices can have an enormous impact on the body’s
health. The specimens in the exhibit stem primarily from the
Institute for Plastination’s body donation program, which
maintains a donor roster of more than 8,000 living and deceased
donors, including about 700 from the United States.
Many donors make the decision to leave their body to the
Institute for Plastination after viewing BODY WORLDS.
"The vast majority of donors decide to do so after seeing
the exhibition," said Dr. Angelina Whalley, the creative and
conceptual designer of BODY WORLDS exhibitions and the director of
the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, Germany. "Few
change their minds."
The exhibits have educated and inspired more than 25 million
people throughout the world since 1996.
Whalley said the interest in the human body has a long history,
particularly during the Renaissance.
"The human body was exalted," she said. "Human
anatomy was indispensable to Renaissance art. The human body here
in BODY WORLDS is presented with the utmost respect."
The plastination process replaces bodily fluids and soluble fat
in specimens with fluid plastics that harden after vacuum-forced
impregnation. After the bodies are fixed into lifelike poses, they
are hardened with gas, heat or light. The plastinates show how
bodies respond, internally, to movements in everyday life as well
as during athletic activities.
Among the body parts displayed are hearts, lungs, intestines,
bones and muscles. Preparing a whole body for plastination can
take several months and even longer depending on the pose that is
used. The body of a man on a rearing horse took three years to
prepare.
"Like all donors in the exhibit, this donor left behind a
living legacy," Whalley said.
Finley said he expects attendance to top 300,000, double that
of "The Vatican: Legacy of the Popes" that the museum
hosted two years ago.
Children are allowed in the exhibit, but Finley said is
intended for those at least in the fifth grade. However, parents
should decide whether their child is prepared to view the
exhibits.
Whalley said the exhibit engages visitors at physical,
emotional and physiological levels.
"Many visitors are inspired and moved by the
exhibit," she said.
Kevin Passon can be reached at kpasson@conleynet.com