As I was saying a couple of days on twitter I was curios to go and see the Bodies exhibition.
One might find the thought of going to an exhibition which focuses on real human bodies and bodies parts a bit… hmm, how to put it? Let’s say that they wouldn’t go if you gave them money. I took it as an opportunity to learn a bit more about the human body and do something that will go out of my conform zone. So I went.
The bodies are really well conserved and the impression I was left with was that they resembled more a plastic mold than genuine body parts. I think that this is mostly due to the process used to preserve the bodies: http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/bodies.html
Some parts of the exhibit are impressive, some are shocking and some are actually boring. I think it actually depends on the mindset you have when you come to visit the exhibit and how much you can detach yourself from the fact that they once were real people.
For me, the most impressive part were the lungs of someone who was a smoker, compared to someone that didn’t smoke. I remained speechless for around 1 minute looking at the smoker’s lungs.
The most shocking part was seeing only the nervous system. The way the nerves are connected and merge first in the spine and after that connect to the brain is indeed amazing and shocking at the same time.
The exhibit was packed. People, of all ages, were staring at most of the ‘pieces’. What was more interesting was he presence of many children, brought by their parents. I would call this a parenting fail, but it could be that I’m just weird for expecting this to be more for adult eyes than for everyone.
You can see more about criticism brought to this exhibition by checking out the Wikipedia dedicated page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BODIES…_The_Exhibition
Apart from that, there is also the issue if it’s morally right to make money by effectively exploiting dead people.