Skin Tight: Human body exhibits grow in popularity
Last updated Saturday, July 5, 2008 5:41 PM CDT in News
By Peggy Harris
The Associated Press
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HOT SPRINGS - Exhibits featuring human cadavers have become "staggeringly popular," though viewers in some museums have no assurance that the perfectly preserved bodies once belonged to people who willingly agreed to one day put their skin, bones and organs on display.
Ford Bell, the president of the American Association of Museums, the major accrediting body for museums, says such exhibits haven't reached their saturation point. "Our Body: The Universe Within" is attracting throngs to the Mid-America Science Museum, as do similar exhibits in the country, Europe and South America.
"I feel a little funny about it myself. But on the other side of the coin I think there's a learning opportunity there, which is we're not here forever and death is part of life and in death these people help us better understand (ourselves)," Bell says.
Two companies - Premier Exhibitions in the United States and Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds in Germany - have been the primary developers and promoters of the exhibits and the main targets of criticism. The displays have been featured as educational programs in accredited science museums as well as side attractions at Las Vegas casinos.
In Ohio, Roman Catholic Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk called an exhibit that opened at the Cincinnati Museum Center "unseemly." The church maintains that dead bodies must be treated in a way that recognizes the dignity of each person, he said.
Some states have considered legislation to ban exhibits that do not have proof of consent for use of the bodies commercially, and a bill recently introduced in Congress would outlaw the import of "plasticized cadavers," a reference to the preservation process.
The 20 bodies and 200 specimens at Mid-America come from people who once lived in China. The museum said it is satisfied that the bodies were obtained properly.
Premier Exhibitions, which brokered the exhibit for Mid-America, came under scrutiny just months ago in New York over allegations that the bodies used in Premier's "Bodies, The Exhibition" were Chinese prisoners who had been executed and may not have given their consent for their remains to be used in public displays.
Premier and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reached a settlement, in which the company posted notice that it was not able to confirm the bodies and parts did not belong to Chinese prisoners who may have been victims of torture and execution. Premier also agreed to refund exhibit-goers who would not have attended the exhibit if they knew the origins of the bodies were questionable.
Bell, who described the exhibits as "staggeringly popular," says the most important concern for curators is to avoid any artifact that has been stolen, illegally obtained, or improperly collected. There is no national organization that polices museums and he knows of no worldwide group that acts as a clearinghouse to ensure that artifacts, or in this case human bodies, are legitimately obtained for public display.
Andy Marquart, executive director of Mid-America, says the nonprofit museum is strictly interested in offering an educational experience to its visitors, especially one that might inspire young people to go into the sciences. Since "Universe Within" opened June 14, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, he says.
"I make it a personal journey to go down there every day and walk through and just see how people are reacting and what they think of the exhibition," Marquart says. "Nobody's asked us for a refund. Nobody's been outraged. Nobody's raised a big stink about it. And I've been really pleasantly surprised by all that, that we've gotten almost all-positive feedback."
Premier arranged to bring "Universe Within" to Mid-America from The Universe Within Touring Company LLC in Baltimore, Marquart says. It is a different exhibit than its "Bodies, the Exhibition" or its "Bodies Revealed."
Premier did not immediately return calls for comment. But Marquart says the museum was satisfied with documentation from Premier and the Baltimore company that the bodies at Mid-America did not come from people who had been tortured or imprisoned or had not given their consent.
The documentation was detailed, he says, showing that a medical doctor had inspected the remains and also outlining the procurement process used by the Anatomical Sciences and Technologies Foundation in Hong Kong.
The 20 bodies in the exhibit are preserved through "polymer impregnation," in which water and fat is replaced with plastics. The skin is removed and the bodies are posed or cut in various ways to best display the internal workings. A body throwing a discus, for example, shows how the muscles work together. The specimens included a penis to explain the urinary system, a healthy liver and a cancerous liver, and a healthy brain and one affected by stroke.
On its Web site, the American Association of Clinical Anatomists supports the display of "human anatomical materials" for educational purposes, provided the materials are obtained legally and ethically. The display should be "dignified, respectful," and not done for "mere monetary gain or exhibitionism."
Dr. Lawrence M. Ross of Houston, the association president, says one concern is with "the sensationalistic flavor" of some exhibits.
"I don't think anatomists have ever viewed themselves as sacred caretakers of the information and that anatomy should only be taught or learned in the medical schools," he says. "But most anatomists, certainly this anatomist, is somewhat conflicted by the issue."
Marquart says Mid-America was careful to present the exhibit in a respectful way. Visitors are reminded of its seriousness. The exhibit walls are done in black and the galleries have special entrances and exits. A cautionary notice is posted before visitors enter the prenatal segment, and the museum keeps loud noise from other displays down.
On a recent visit, an elderly man speaks softly to a little boy peering into a display case. "See the jaw bone?" the man says. "See the hole in the nose? Every part of your body has a purpose."
It is exactly the response the museum hoped for.
On the Net:
Mid-America Science Museum http://www.midamericamuseum.org
Premier Exhibitions http://www.prxi.com
American Association of Clinical Anatomists http://www.clinicalanatomy.org
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