controversial "Bodies" exhibit!

One of the plasticized human bodies in the Carnegie Science Center's controversial "Bodies'' exhibit was displayed for the first time in Pittsburgh yesterday, posed as a soccer player making a kick.

"Bodies: The Exhibition,'' which includes 15 polymer-preserved human corpses from China and more than 200 additional organs and specimens, is set to open Oct. 8 in a specially built section of the Carnegie Science Center's SportsWorks. Timed tickets went on sale yesterday.

There will be a separate entrance inside the SportsWorks for the exhibit so that people cannot accidentally wander into it, said science center Director Joanna Haas.

The male body displayed yesterday was leaned backwards with a metal pole running through the left leg and the right leg stretched into the air with a soccer ball attached to the foot as if the person were in the middle of a scissor kick. Visible are the body's muscles, tendons, bones, some internal organs and genitalia.

There also was a table with human organs that reporters on hand for a media preview could pick up, including a heart, brain, healthy lung, cancerous lung and knee joint. The exhibition comprises nine galleries, including one displaying unaborted fetuses in various stages of development. Visitors can bypass that gallery if they wish.

The "Bodies" exhibit, which has been on tour around the world, is currently in 10 U.S. cities, including Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and New York. On Wednesday, it concluded a run in Durham, N.C., following a protest Sunday by a half-dozen Duke University professors concerned about the ethics of displaying the bodies of people who did not give their consent.

In June, Elaine Catz, a Carnegie Science Center employee, resigned over the exhibit, stating she wasn't sure the Carnegie Institute had sufficiently investigated how the bodies were acquired.

Representatives from Premiere Exhibitions, the company behind the exhibit, have said the unidentified and unclaimed corpses were donated to medical schools for research and educational purposes, a standard practice in the United States and China. The company said the bodies were obtained from the Dalian Medical University plastination labs in China.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07250/815346-42.stmhttp
http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/defaultHome.aspx

exibition. I saw it here in Fl. You were not supposed to touch but there was one guy with his skin hanging on a hanger and I had to brush by it with my hand. It took some major skill to do the blood vessels in the circulation part of the exhibit and I have no idea how they move it around without breaking those delicate threads of veins and arteries.

saw it in NY...

would love to go back. It was supposed to leave in Dec. of last year but its
still being shown at the South Street Seaport....



lost

Great way to learn about the body.

to see the fetus development. There is so much info given with the displays.. It is really quite educational. It is a bit disconcerning that the bodies have no origination or consent... but it is truly an educational experience that really make you appreciate the human body.

My only complaint is that I wish I had a tour guide who was an anatomist; the tour would have then been equivalent to a college course in anatomy.

The work was simply fantastic. A great learning experience. It was sold out every day in Dallas.

Imagine that, wanting to spread information and knowledge! Tsk. :sarcasm:


I'm sure there'd be no furor over where the bodies came from if they were all fully dressed
and in a placid, park-like exhibition. :eyes:

It looks fascinating.