Dead bodies exhibition to come to Britain

April 2, 2001 10:03 AM

Dead bodies exhibition to come to Britain
is it just me, or is this really sick?
posted by bwg (13 comments total)

Hahahahahhahaha!
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:12 AM on April 2, 2001

is it just me, or is this really sick?

I think that depends on who you ask. I just went to look at the pictures posted by sonofsamiam, and I also read the English translation of the main page. While I find the images disturbing (in a good way), I think the point of this exhibit is really to explore life and death, and also the psychology of body issues. I don't think it's just "morbid for morbid's sake" any more than it's just "art for art's sake". I think this is one of the more interesting modern art shows I've seen in a while.
posted by starvingartist at 10:19 AM on April 2, 2001

i wonder what you can get from the gift shop
posted by stuporJIX at 10:30 AM on April 2, 2001

ok i take it back.

having seen the pictures it does seem to have purpose. the original article made it sound more gruesome than it appears to be.

however, the mother with the fetus still bothers me. guess i just have to deal with that.
posted by bwg at 10:30 AM on April 2, 2001

Hey, I think this guy is really working for ManBeef.com!
(skipping the link since we all just looked at it the other day)
posted by briank at 11:25 AM on April 2, 2001

Yeah, that article definetly makes this sound more contorversial than it really is. Looks like biology class to me.
posted by Hackworth at 11:42 AM on April 2, 2001

I doubt they'd pass ManBeef.com's "customer satisfaction" inspection. Being pumped full of silicon probably taints the meat somewhat...
posted by nukethewhales at 11:48 AM on April 2, 2001

self link:

photos, commentary and technical info on the exhibit.
posted by NortonDC at 3:31 PM on April 2, 2001

Why would people ask for their bodies to be "plastinated," as the "artist" calls it? That seems... strange.
posted by amanda at 5:48 PM on April 2, 2001

Who cares? You're dead.
posted by OneBallJay at 5:50 PM on April 2, 2001

Well, what I mean, accountingboy, is that if you're going to donate your body that it seems more logical to be an organ donor or donate to science or something along those lines. I guess I'm sort of suspicious of how he found these people who wanted to be "plastinated" upon their death.
posted by amanda at 5:56 PM on April 2, 2001

I guess I see this as donating to science, since the bodies will help regular joes see what's on the inside. Lots of bodies donated to science end up in places like this, rather than teaching medical students (what is typically thought of when you donate your body to science). And naturally, I'd rather have any organs that are still "good" harvested when I die, but if they don't find me in time or whatever, I think this would be a noble cause for my body to undertake.

BTW, has anyone been to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry? They have a display in one of the stairways of a body sectioned off in 3/4" horizontal slices. It's pretty interesting.
posted by OneBallJay at 6:47 PM on April 2, 2001

I saw this on the BBC a few months ago and thought it was pretty cool. Like accountingboy, I see it as donating to science too -- if it lets regular people who would otherwise never get to look at the human anatomy outside of a textbook see what the body is really like, then good. Maybe they'll take better care of what they have, or maybe some of them might even end up as doctors. I'd go and see it if I could.
posted by lia at 11:13 PM on April 2, 2001