Body Worlds exhibition for ‘health education’
To leave a body to science is a familiar concept, but leaving a body to a public museum exhibition is a somewhat less well known option. Nonetheless, more than 14,000 people have signed up to do so, going on to help create the worldwide Body Worlds exhibitions.
The idea was created by anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who invented the groundbreaking process of plastination to preserve bodies and body parts.
Described as a genius by some and a ‘modern day Frankenstein’ by others, opinion over the exhibitions has been divided.
Body Worlds’ designer, and the head of the Institute for Plastination, Dr Angelina Whalley, said: “I hope for visitors to be inspired by the body’s potential and capacity of change.”
Questions have been asked around whether Body Worlds is art or science, but the mission of the exhibit is health education. The body is so rarely seen is such detail that medical professionals are taking their students in and using the exhibit as a teaching resource.
The controversial exhibition is in Amsterdam and Stuttgart until May.
Tags: Amsterdam, art, Body Worlds, education, Gunther von Hagens, health, plastination, science, Stuttgart