Museum displays controversial, revealing exhibit
Body Worlds exhibit returns to Houston
Rose Pulido
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: News
Gunther Von Hagens' world-renowned Body Worlds exhibit returns to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Body Worlds 2 & The Brain-Our Three Pound Gem: The Original Exhibition of Real Human Bodies; this second exhibit in a series of three, emphasizes the human brain and its functions from birth through the golden years.
The two-floor exhibit, features displays of genuine human cadavers in an educational spectacle of the human body that allows visitors to experience x-ray vision beyond the body's largest organ, the skin.
Von Hagens, a German doctor and anatomist, developed a genius procedure called plastination, a preservation of the human body and its internal structures that allows a more insightful study and analysis of the body's capabilities and functions.
Von Hagens has an agenda to educate and create awareness of the human body and the effects contributed by lifestyle and genetics.
Jim Masters of Houston said, "It was better than school. It took about two hours not 10 hours."
A mesmerizing human brain in a cubed, glass case with special lighting rotates on a pedestal and appears moist as if it were fresh out of a cadaver at the entrance of the exhibition.
Full-body plastinations posed in creative positions, such as a male cadaver with a baseball bat in position to swing away, stands alongside glass cases of healthy organs and bones contrasted with those that may have been diseased or from cadavers with unhealthy lifestyles.
This exhibit also features an optional audio companion similar to a television remote that provides an informative explanation of the visual specimens.
The appearances of the plastinated cadavers and organs inspired different responses from the spectators.
The comparison of healthy lungs, opposed to a smoker's lungs, created a topic of smoking and its effects on the organ between everyone at the display.
A pregnant female plastinate with a 5-month-old baby exposed inside her stomach caused one spectator to break down into tears.
Von Hagens' anatomical omniscience creates an awareness and rude awakening into the mortality of the human body.
The exhibit, which opened Sept. 12, has attracted over 10,000 visitors, said Melinda Davenport, media and communications manager for HMNS. The third in the series, Body Worlds 3, came to the HMNS in 2006 and had an overwhelming response.
"This exhibit is back by popular demand. It used to be on one floor but we increased it to two levels," Davenport said.
The cadavers used in the Body Worlds exhibits have willingly consented before their death to donate their bodies to science.
Body Worlds 2 and The Brain, Our Three Pound Gem runs now through Feb. 22, 2009.
The two-floor exhibit, features displays of genuine human cadavers in an educational spectacle of the human body that allows visitors to experience x-ray vision beyond the body's largest organ, the skin.
Von Hagens, a German doctor and anatomist, developed a genius procedure called plastination, a preservation of the human body and its internal structures that allows a more insightful study and analysis of the body's capabilities and functions.
Von Hagens has an agenda to educate and create awareness of the human body and the effects contributed by lifestyle and genetics.
Jim Masters of Houston said, "It was better than school. It took about two hours not 10 hours."
A mesmerizing human brain in a cubed, glass case with special lighting rotates on a pedestal and appears moist as if it were fresh out of a cadaver at the entrance of the exhibition.
Full-body plastinations posed in creative positions, such as a male cadaver with a baseball bat in position to swing away, stands alongside glass cases of healthy organs and bones contrasted with those that may have been diseased or from cadavers with unhealthy lifestyles.
This exhibit also features an optional audio companion similar to a television remote that provides an informative explanation of the visual specimens.
The appearances of the plastinated cadavers and organs inspired different responses from the spectators.
The comparison of healthy lungs, opposed to a smoker's lungs, created a topic of smoking and its effects on the organ between everyone at the display.
A pregnant female plastinate with a 5-month-old baby exposed inside her stomach caused one spectator to break down into tears.
Von Hagens' anatomical omniscience creates an awareness and rude awakening into the mortality of the human body.
The exhibit, which opened Sept. 12, has attracted over 10,000 visitors, said Melinda Davenport, media and communications manager for HMNS. The third in the series, Body Worlds 3, came to the HMNS in 2006 and had an overwhelming response.
"This exhibit is back by popular demand. It used to be on one floor but we increased it to two levels," Davenport said.
The cadavers used in the Body Worlds exhibits have willingly consented before their death to donate their bodies to science.
Body Worlds 2 and The Brain, Our Three Pound Gem runs now through Feb. 22, 2009.
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