My daughter has decided that she would like to go and see the Body Worlds Exhibition. Personally, I am not to keen, so have bottled out and my husband will take her :D Has anyone been to see it either here or in Germany? What did you think and is it as gruesome as it looks?

I havent seen it but have read various reports ..I am one of those folks who thinks that , after death , the body is just a shell ..so I wouldnt mind going to see it...but then I would be able to view it as an art exhibition rather than anything else.

I can understand why some people don't like the idea ..but I would be fine

:)

Melody - Damien Hursts Sheep springs to mind ;)

Never heard of it, but after reading through the site, my curiousity is piqued. Of course, I easily go for the non-mainstream type of education :rolleyes: Bored with the typical lecture format. Visual media is one of the best ways to learn in this day and age, especially about human internal works. Too bad I wasn't here when it was at Mannheim. That's only an hour away.
How old is your daughter, Leigh?

Agree Sara :-)

I don't have a problem with the 'ethics' of the exhibition and I think it will be interesting for her (Kali is 15). I am happy for her to go, it's just that I am very squeamish and 'knowing' that it is real body parts makes me hesitate :rolleyes:

Melody, I don't have a problem with Damiens dead Sheep, but not my idea of art :D

Just pretend they aren't real --- they're actually very good award winning special effects made to look as natural as possible :D
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt ;) :)

Nah, the more I think about it Sara, the more sick I feel. I just hope that she doesn't decide that she wants to 'work' with this medium. She will be out digging my 'garden' up ;-)

I've always had a fascination with "Forensic Anthropology" and "Forensic Psychology" --- but didn't know about the fields when I was a teenager. Either could have changed my career focus ;) :D

You could have something there Sara. Hadn't looked at it from that angle :-)

Leigh, my daughter went to this exhibition earlier in the year. She did A-level art and has a passionate interest in anatomy too so she raved about it. She didn't think that I'd enjoy it, but then I haven't examined a cadaver in the mortuary!

Val, it was at the suggestion of Kali's art teacher, that she should attend :-) And interestingly enough, not from a direct *Art* point of view. They are working on anatomy and 'muscles' in particular at present and he thought it would be in invaluable to her to see the exhibition for this reason.She is also studying PE so for her to see muscles *in the flesh* so to speak, will hopefully help her to put her studies into perspective :-)

In that case definitely. Hannah said that it made much more sense, seeing the muscles, ligaments, attachments etc for real, whether in the morgue or at that exhibition, rather than in a book. So looks like "a must" for Kali, but what about you??

I wont go Val .. I am *arty* but I do not consider this exhibition to be art.
I am not *comfortable* with this particular concept and have no interest in the subject material. I can not justify to myself, a reason that I should go on this occassion. Kali on the other hand has a reason and I hope that the exhibition will be of use to her :-) I am sure it will.

I think there might be some issues with the ethics of it Leigh, although perhaps not in the way you were thinking. I have read that although the 'artist' is now inundated with offers from people willing to bequeath their bodies to him it seem in the past many of the bodies came from underdevoped or impoverished countries and he is very vague about how he came across them. One exhibit that I have quite a problem with is the heavily pregnant woman, I find it very hard to believe that the woman, even if she cared nothing about her body being exhibited, would want this for her poor unborn child. It seems to have an air of exploitation to my mind but I might be wrong.

I was not aware of that Isabel :-(

Is it possible that some of these people donated their bodies to science? I know that what starts out as the idea of contributing to a "cure" for the disease that killed you can lead to being a crash dummy in car tests. Sounds a bit icky, but I'm not one to judge.

The information that is contained in the leaflet says:

" Exhibition specimens come from people who agreed to donate their bodies for the use of medical science,specifically for the purposes of being plastinated for educational purposes"

As for the rest, who knows.

They had a programme on the TV about it a while ago, & to be honest it made my stomach churn. Some of it looked quite gruesome, sorry but I feel that displaying once living things in the name of art is a step too far. still some people will do anything to make money. Ingrid

This had totally passed me by, nevererdofit as they say. If she wants to go let her, not my thing but have no problems with it other than it sounds a bit unusual
Anne

It looks completly vile but fasinating - if she's 15 she'll love it !!!!!Just for the education value --effects of smoking 'drinking etc I think its worth a look
Liz ;)

O great .. does this mean I am going to get the smokin 'n' drinkin lecture again :rolleyes:

' Do as I say not how I do ' :D
Liz

Yep Leigh ... dont let her go :D :D :D
Gina :o

She's a teenager. Of course she knows more than her mum and dad put together :rolleyes: ;) :D :P

Chris is taking jonathon (6) there next week. We thought long and hard about it but decided that jonathon would learn so much from it so it was worth the possible upset.

He's a particularly gruesome little boy anyway and is fascinated with all things body related.

I hope your daughter enjoys the exhibition,

Fiona
x x x

I'd love to go, looks great, I like the "horse" one too !
Dawn.

Is this the exhibition that is in london.
If so one of my friends went 2 weeks ago and she said it was brilliant!!!

I would love to go and see it, and I'm sure my whole family would enjoy it as well. It looks to be very interesting. You should really check it out, it may not be as bad as you think. Hope you change your mind and go. :)

No thanks yuk! Sorry to be the opersite to you all, but yuk again! Each to your own though! but YUK! HEE HEE!! :(

lol... :)

Leigh, I doubt that it will be at all gruesome, but I dislike the idea of this exhibition intensely. The requirement to respect the dead is emphasised over and over again to medical students studying anatomy and pathology. I fail to see how respect can be engendered at a £10 per ticket exhibition. Medical students will always have to be brought into intimate contact with the dead in order to learn many things, of which respect is only one. In the past an anatomical exhibition aimed at the layman for purely educational purposes might have been justified but today 3D computer graphics can give as clear if not a clearer visualisation of how the body works. I see it as profiteering and attention seeking in the name of "education" and I find it morally dubious to put it mildly. The consent of the early donors is in question as Isabel says, but that bothers me less than the possible effects on some attendees, although others may well get something from it. IMO this is the modern equivalent of a Victorian freak show and find it wonderful what people can get away with if they attach an "educational" tag. Ugh!

I am going to this exhibition on sunday and taking my son with me.
I think alot of the subjects,re damage done by smoking and drinking are best shown in this way, I will probably try and stop smoking when I see the lungs!!!!!
I will let you all know how I get on.......

emma xx

Emma,

I was a nurse before having kids and have seen the damage smoking has done ie lung cancer but still I was never able to give up the only time im able to stop smoking is when im pregnant.

Thought of going myself how long does it run for?

Karen

until the first of december.if you use the link in one of the above postings it tells you more info there.
looking foward to going.......

Emma, I would be interested to know how you get on. How old is your son?
Kali is going tomorrow too I think.

he is 9 emma xxxx

Well I went to the bodyworks exhibition yesturday with my son daughter{3] and 3 friends.
It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!
Most of the exhibits were male and even the female exhibit carrying the 7 month old foetus was still fasinating.
The way in which that had been preserved made them almost look not real and plasticy.
I found the whole exhibition very tastefull, my 3 year old didnt understand but loved the horse and rider that had been preserved and my son was truely amazed at just what the body looks like and the sze of the organs.
He also went around finding which exhibits had been smoking{I type this whilst still smoking :( }
I was suprised at how many children was there and not one was scared.
I really cant see what any of the fuss was about,
the only thing that I would have liked to know is how the pregnant lady died as they do not give ANY information about how the peolpe died and as a mum myself I know that a 7 month old feotus can survive.

Both Kali and my husband enjoyed it too. My husband was dreading it, but said that it was very tastefully done, not ghoulish at all and he felt that it had been set out as *educational* and not as an *Art* exhibition. They both learnt from it :-) Infact, he couldn't wait to tell me all about my sciatic nerve! As if I didn't already know where it runs :rolleyes: They were impressed with the horse and a 'running man' (?) and both said they were amazed at 'back muscles'. Kali told me that everything "looked plastic" and that she had to remind herself that the exhibits were not. She has been telling me all about lung/liver/heart disease this morning and how she will not be smoking or drinking :D They also found the heart valves/joint replacement 'studies' very interesting.
Kali did have a bit of a 'problem' with the pregnant lady and also said that it would have helped to 'know' why the lady and baby had died :-(

I am pleased they had a nice day too.
We had no queues to get in {probably cos of the weather}
There was even a man displayed with various parts of his body that had pins plated knee replacements fixators ect on which my son found great and then told people that mumy had lots of those thing in her body, and from my point of veiw it was great to see how such things were attached on the 'inside' , a view I could never have seen before.
We bought the poster of the horse and rider and a badge.
And I didnt feel that any of the exhibits were made to look like art!!!

a brilliant day out other than having to drive due to the trains being delayed ect!!!!! :) :)