Sunday Lynn and I traversed all 10 blocks down Colorado Blvd in the Regal Beagle to see "BodyWorlds 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies" at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It was definitely an intense experience and while I have been wanting to go for quite some time, had quite an arresting sense of nervousness as we approached the entrance. Among hundreds upon hundreds of other people our group was corraled into a small containment area before entering - and were informed that a) EVERYTHING was real b) we couldn't leave and return c) THE BODIES WEREN'T UNDER GLASS so keep "little ones" from TOUCHING THE BODIES.Using a resin process called Plastination, Gunther von Hagen preserves the body with striking natural color and form. The bodies on display are quite artfully posed, using a combination of an action with the way in which that particular was dissected. For instance, a woman called "Angel" is posed with her trapezius and shoulder muscles lifted and upheld as wings, exposing inner organs from the back to the front. It was really intersting, and if you have the chance I would definitely encourage you to go. Lynn was more upset by the hair, many bodies still had fingernails, eyebrows, and eyelashes. That made them seem much more real and human. It was really intense and by the end I was quite ready to be gone.
3 comments:
I nearly went to see that exhibition when I was last in London. That Hagen bloke staged a promotional post mortem live on late night british tv. It had a sort of turn of the century sideshow feel to it & he was wearing a top hat= copycat!
Listened to Air Ferg- those two are cool & I liked the way the show ended with you cussing his mom- too funny!
*AfP
Wowzah, the TV thing really doesn't seem very cool to me. That takes away from the mystique and what I thought was respect for the dead. Hmmm. I will be on the real AirFerg this week. OOOoOoOo, exciting. I was a nerd and got all serious. They are very cool and very funny, we're going to party like it's 1999.
He's doing another thing on TV next week- wants more people to donate their bodies to science, there's a huge shortage. I think his point is that you can respect the dead, but these are bodies rather than people- and he's trying to alter our weird attitudes toawrds death (eg. we don't think about it much)... I see his point but wouldn't be a donor myself tbh! x
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