Body Worlds

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Tex

BackFire349
its just skeletons.

Mujaffa
just like the house on the haunted hill

Raz
Went to this ages ago. Didn't like it at all.

The guy is just using dead people to make money. He did this yesterday again when he did an autopsy in front of a paying audience. Then sold to a TV company who broadcast it.

LanceWindu
The guy that made the "art" just dug up dead bodies and filled their veins with wax or something like that.

Rumor has it that his deceased wife was one of the bodies that he did this too.

And wasn't the guy that made these alive ahile ago?

Like he's dead now right?

Tex
Nah, he's still alive, like Raz said, he did a public autopsy in London yesterday. The first one since like the 1880s or something.
That's where I first heard about the Body World's show.

I really hope the exhibition visits the US, I would be willing to take a day trip to see it.

I dont really mind that he's making money off these dead bodies. They did donate their bodies to science after all.

I think it's great that he has given people the chance to see the inner workings of the human body that normally only medical students get to see.

They would make great sculptural pieces as well.

LanceWindu
I heard that he dug up the bodies from graves.

I heard it off of the Travel channel nontheless.

Or maybe I'm thinking of another guy that did the same type of thing, only using wax instead of plastic.

Cause I heard of one guy who did this to stolen bodies or something like that.

And it was a long time ago too.

Darla
I think you are referring to Robert Knox, an anatomist of the early 19th century. It is said that he turned a blind eye to the fact that most of the bodies he dissected were obtained by less than savoury means, although he was not held accountable for the manner in which the bodies were obtained or for the fact that he used them. The murderers who supplied his bodies were found out but he never even made a public apology and the public were outraged (he was a respected lecturer) - there were demonstrations and riots because of this.

The bodies used by Prof Gunther von Hagens are donated through some sort of process which I assume is wholly legal. I myself am not interested in participating in this scheme.

Prof Gunther von Hagens has pioneered the art of plastination, a method which removes the body's moisture and replaces it with plastics, such as silicone rubber, epoxy resin or polyester resin. This preserves the body without the foul odour that formaldehyde and other preservatives give off. It also allows for the positioning of the body while the pastic sets.

Hagens's work is rather macabre, I'll warrant. I went to see the exhibition in London in June and while I found it very interesting, I was a little disturbed by what I saw. His work is educational; many of the exhibits are dissected in a way which displays certain parts of the nervous system, or muscular and skeletal systems, etc. The bodies are displayed in a number of sporting positions, presumably to show the muscles "in use", although I think this is more likely an aesthetic decision. I think it is rather sick to refer to his work as art and I am not certain that he himself refers to it thus. He has set up a "school" (Japan?) where students work on the bodies. Several years go into the dissection of the bodies, and the plastination process takes several months. Some people view this "school" as a factory production line. In fact, I've just read an article in which he states "my work is not art, neither is it science". He views it as somewhere in between, because while he intends it to be educational, he admits that public opinions and reactions are like those caused by art. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is cashing in on this - big time!

Ushgarak
Well, he wouldn;t be the first scientist to do so... is that a very bad thing?

Dim
I don't know...I've had dreams with skinned people talking to me so I think this the last thing I really need to see.

mah
it's kind of fascinating...don't know.

LanceWindu
I wouldn't call it art though.

It's more of science.

I would never go to see one of these things for amusement.

Tex
That professor doens't think it's art either.
But that doesn't mean that it isn't.

I most certainly think it's art.
Shock art!

Ushgarak
Shart!

Tex
SHHHHHHAAAAAAARRRRRRRKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

LanceWindu
Uh...I think Ush said Shart...Not Shark.

ToMacco
How about "shit"?

That's disgusting. If I shoot a hamster, then nail it to the wall, is it art?

Now, did these dead people sign a contract saying they want their courpses displayed for eternity?

Ushgarak
Pretty much.

mah
yep. for scientific purposes

finti
how nice

Ushgarak
They were very happy to do so. I just saw an interview this morning with an artist who loved the work so much he signed his body up for it.

Tex
He wont have to pay for funeral expenses.
And his relatives can come see him anytime.laughing out loud

ToMacco
That's messed up.

mah
-laughing out loud

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