My husband had the day off from work yesterday and we decided to do something “fun” with our 8 year old daughter. Body Worlds 2 opened at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature March 10 and runs through July 23 here in Denver. It’s a traveling exhibit of plastinated dead human bodies pioneered by Gunther von Hagens, a German physian. The Body Worlds website has a ton of information and more images from the exhibit whose mission states that it is for health education.
It was fascinating and just a little voyeristic. I had to remind myself that these specimens, whose skin was removed often just leaving the skeleton, muscles and organs visible were once living human beings. Also all of the cadavers used in the exhibit had donated their bodies to medicine. The bodies were arranged in various activities so that viewers could see how the body’s mechanisms worked.
It was incredibly crowded and we had to purchase a ticket for a specific time because the museum only allowed 600 people into the exhibit at a time. There was a little interesting piece of information that links back to my art education. Many artists going back in time, especially during the Renaissance including Leonardo da Vinci, performed clandestine autopsies on dead bodies in order to document the human body and to accurately paint, draw or sculpt the body.
Both healthy and diseased human organs and tissues were presented. We left thinking, okay no smoking, drinking, fat consumption and we must exercise like maniacs!! I’m not sure how long the healthy commitment will last…we’re only human after all.
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