I took my two younger children to the Body Worlds exhibition with my brother today. It was extraordinary. Very interesting and very useful for my work because you can see so clearly where all the muscle origin and insertions are.
I did have a problem though with some of the poses the bodies are put in. There is a “reclining pregnant woman” with her belly cut open and her unborn baby displayed within. She has one arm behind her head as if posing for a magazine. It is actually very distasteful and was certainly upsetting to some of the audience.
My daughter loved it and found it very educational. My 8 year old found it incredibly dull and sat on chairs looking bored at every given opportunity. The horse and the giraffe were the only two things that captured his imagination.
I think all the body donors must have come from a Korean dance troup or circus – they are all very small and fit with similar features. They clearly all died of smoking related diseases. All the lungs were BLACK. Disgusting.
The guy below is interesting. He has his skin (our largest organ) draped over his arm like a coat.
The two most interesting things that I learnt were:-
a) That smoking can take 8 years off your life
b) That if you have regular orgasms you can add up to 8 extra years to your life.
So. Does that mean that one can cancel the other out and that if I do both I can die a happy death at the age I would have died at if I don’t bother to do either?
We left comments in the book. I mentioned my objection to the pregnant woman. My daughter wrote that she “would love to see more animals and maybe more stuff relating to children and teenagers and I think you should let us take photos”.
My 8 year old said “thank you so much that was SO interesting, I will definitely be back soon (NOT!!!)”.
Typical.
Ruth
January 19, 2009I have heard so much about this exhibit, it looks mesmerizing, and a little hard to take at times. So funny about your 8-year-old.
Thank you for your kind visit to synchronizing.
My Little Brown Book
January 19, 2009Hahaha – your sons comment sounds like exactly the kind of thing I’d write!
LBB (aged 32 yrs) x
Expat mum
January 19, 2009I think they had something similar a few years ago in Chicago – but obviously no pregnant women or genitalia. Oh god no.
Working mum
January 19, 2009I must admit to being a bit too squeamish to see this when it was in Manchester. I did wonder how children would react to it!
Ernest de Cugnac
January 19, 2009Interesting stuff. I find it so hard to relate to the exhibits as people; which of course they once were. Like the pregnant mum. I mean, what *was* her story?
family affairs
January 21, 2009Yes isn’t it so strange to think that they had their own lives and stories….in a way I’d prefer to know who they were than to have them as anonymous bodies..Lx