Dr. Gunther von Hagens, Body Worlds / Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
Colin St.John
It’s hard not to be transported to another time or world when you’re visiting the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The gargantuan building that once was the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World’s Fair sprawls over its home next to Lake Michigan like a sleeping giant with much history in its belly. On a recent visit, however, it wasn’t the museum’s innards that were the main attraction–they were human ones. For, Chicago was home to the spectacle known as "Body Worlds" from February through September of 2005. And I am one of more than 17 million people worldwide who has witnessed it.
The brainchild of Dr. Gunther von Hagens, "Body Worlds" is an exhibition of plastinated human bodies, organs, cross-sections and the like. There they are: a runner with muscles falling off the bone, a chess player with fire engine-red nerves, a woman whose skin has been lifted to reveal a fetus. These are real bodies that living people once donated to von Hagens, fully aware that they–or parts of them–might be used for "Body Worlds." (You can fill out a form for donation if you like on the expansive website: www.bodyworlds.com). The bodies and body parts have been plastinated, a technique von Hagen developed in 1977 and had patented in the U.S. and elsewhere since then.
The plastination technique itself is a paradigm for understanding "Body Worlds" as a whole. The technique is highly-scientific and was developed over years of research and experimentation culminating in the first "Body Worlds" exhibit in 1996. It involves valves, vacuum chambers, polymers and many other complex steps and ingredients. But, it’s pure art; it forces a response from the viewer. As da Vinci did five centuries ago, Gunther von Hagens blurs the lines between art and science. He sees himself primarily as an educator, who said in a recent interview with me: "I am a scientist who embraces art, but not an artist who embraces science. ‘Body Worlds’ stands at the intersection of science and art. If pressed to define it, I would call it anatomical art–the aesthetic presentation of the body interior. I do not view the body as an art form, but as an anatomical specimen of great wonder."
But, von Hagens knew that if he wanted to deliver health education and anatomical science to the masses, he would have to do so strikingly. "It has always been my intention to share this treasure with those outside the medical world. As an educator, I always knew that for an anatomical exhibit to resonate with the public, I had to use a heightened sense of aesthetics to capture the viewer’s imagination." And in the viewer’s imagination, "Body Worlds" runs wild. Sights such as the plastinated lower nervous system of an infant so intact, so detailed, will elicit responses all across the board.
And it is these genuine feelings and reactions that are prized by those behind "Body Worlds." Dr. Steve Snyder is the Vice-President of Exhibits at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia ("Body Worlds" current home until April 23rd when it will move to an undecided location in the U.S.; "Body Worlds" 2 is in Toronto until February 26th). Snyder says that he loves walking around the exhibit, listening to and watching for the array of sentiments. Von Hagens says, "The experience for each person is singular and emotional, and I am happy not to place any restrictions on the viewer."
The areas of the exhibit that seem to garner the most opinions, though, are the ones about temporality and self-inflicted illness. While von Hagens makes it clear that it is up to the individual whether or not to stop smoking, he admits that a cancerous lung makes the consequence tangible. And while many of the issues presented at "Body Worlds" spark debate about God and the supernatural, von Hagens holds firmly on to his agnosticism and the right for all to choose and change: "I do not have any prejudices about God or evolution, but I have put all my faith in the human body which to me is the very essence of divinity and intelligence." Von Hagens has not only offered his faith to the human body, he has offered what Sir Winston Churchill once did–his blood, toil, tears and sweat. And it has all been worth it.
