HUMAN BODY EXHIBITS –
UNIQUE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE? OR NEXT SILVER BULLET? OR BOTH?

Robert “Mac” West

Fig. 1. Anatomy by Albinus (1697-1770)

Exhibitions of plastinated human bodies and body parts have successfully moved to North America from Europe and Asia. The original exhibition, Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS, completed two runs at the California Science Center (CSC) in Los Angeles, CA, as BODY WORLDS and BODY WORLDS 2 in 2004-2005. BODY WORLDS completed its venue at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago, IL, on September 5 and will open at the Franklin Institute (FI) in Philadelphia, PA, on October 7. BODY WORLDS 2 will close at the Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) in Cleveland, OH, on September 18, and open at the Ontario Science Center in Toronto, ON, on September 30. Subsequent venues have not been announced.

A competing exhibition, BODIES…THE EXHIBITION, opened at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, FL, on August 18. Its next venue has not yet been announced.

A third exhibition, The Universe Within, which has suffered major technical and political challenges, closed at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, CA, on September 5 and has no apparent future.

The ILR commented earlier on the display of Gunther von Hagens’ plastinated bodies, initially after I saw them exhibited in the East End of London in 2002 (ILR 54) and later when they were at their first U.S. venue (ILR 67).

Now it is worthwhile to stand back and look at this body exhibition phenomenon that is sweeping across North America. To do this, I visited three current exhibitions (MSI, GLSC and MOSI) and met with their staffs and also spoke with representatives of the CSC. I am grateful for the time and hospitality of Jeff Rudolph and Diane Perlov at the CSC, Linda Abraham-Silver and her staff at the GLSC, Lisa Minor, Kurt Haufelner and others at MSI and Wit Ostrenko and his staff at MOSI. I have not seen the Masonic Center exhibition nor have I communicated with staff there.

As I look at all this, I see four aspects to the body exhibition phenomenon:

1. visitor experience
2. internal impact on the museum
3. the blockbuster phenomenon
4. dueling vendors as the North American market opens.

The Exhibitions

Before exploring these aspects, what about the exhibitions themselves? I have described them in some detail in previous articles, and articles accompanying this (Perlov, and Burtnyk et al.) one discuss their impact and evaluate their effect on the family audience at the California Science Center. The BODY WORLDS web site (www.bodyworlds.com) is very informative; the BODIES…THE EXHIBITION web site (www.bodiestheexhibition.com) currently (as of August 30) is under construction. There is information on its media link, which requires registration.

In some ways the two vendors’ products are very similar, and in some ways different.

The von Hagens BODY WORLDS exhibitions are glitzier, with more “environment” – plants on graveled median dividers, lots of allusions to the 500-year history of anatomy via graphics containing textbook quotations and anatomical drawings by Leonardo, Albinus, and others. The GLSC supplemented BODY WORLDS 2 with a display of anatomy books from Case Western Reserve University (unfortunately located distant from the BODY WORLDS 2 exhibition itself). Especially in Chicago, a large final gallery allowed the display of multiple full-body plastinates. BODY WORLDS has body and organ donation materials available. The Cleveland show was divided into two sections, with a public stairway between. A sliced plastinated camel was located at the base of the stairway – in the public area where it could be photographed.

Fig. 2. The Runner

BODIES…THE EXHIBITION is a more austere presentation, with no anatomical art work or quotations but rather projections of cell structures at the entry to each topical area. It has much more labeling of individual structures – muscles, nerves, pathologies, organ segments - than do the BODY WORLDS exhibitions. There is no pregnant woman or display of pathologic obesity and the fetal development area is much more subdued. The exhibition encourages body and organ donations but does not facilitate them.

There are very significant similarities in both presentations, which is only logical as they both are presenting the same thing. They are linear, body system by body system, starting with the skeleton, and moving through the operations of the body. Several of the full-body figures are posed virtually identically (athletes, including “running man”, basketball player, reader/chess player, conductor/fencer); there are a few more full-body specimens in the BODY WORLDS shows. All presentations have a preponderance of clearly male specimens – von Hagens claims an aversion to voyeurism and thus displays fewer females.

Fig. 3. Abdominal organs with smoker’s lungs

The two recent BODY WORLDS exhibitions had a new element that is particularly germane to ongoing discussions in the US – a clinically obese specimen presented in a way which was truly graphic. This point is not present in BODIES…THE EXHIBITION. Audience reactions are substantially similar – hushed conversation, lots of pointing, discussion of personal and family medical conditions, horror at the smoker’s lungs and various pathologies. There are many lengthy positive entries in visitor comment books. It is clear that many people in professions that involve the human body, health and nutrition beyond medicine – personal trainers, masseuses, physical therapists, athletic coaches, school advisors – visit this show and are struck with its clarity and emphasize how much information it conveys. It also produces discussion among viewers regarding evolution and special creation – “the human body is proof of the power of God’s creation” as well as “the peculiar combination of jerryrigged systems in the human body is powerful evidence of evolution.” There are few critical comments.

There is a substantial difference in the catalogues to the exhibitions. BODY WORLDS’ catalogue is a 319 page tome costing 19 Euros or US $23.40 online; BODIES…THE EXHIBITION’s catalogue is a slender 62 pages for US $14.95 in the MOSI store. The BODIES…THE EXHIBITION catalogue leads the reader through the exhibition with no deviations or sidebars. In contrast, the BODY WORLDS catalogue, in addition to an exhibition tour, includes extensive materials on the history of anatomy, the plastination process, Gunther von Hagens, various social and ethical considerations, and even initial visitor evaluations.

All four U.S. venues have complemented the body exhibitions with the IMAX film The Human Body, and have made audio guides available at a modest cost ($2.00 - $5.00).

Body Sources

The main ongoing issue for the various body exhibitions is the source of the plastinated bodies and confirmation that they are legally presented and/or that the individuals gave informed consent to be used for exhibit.

The MOSI exhibition made news worldwide because of a challenge by the State of Florida to the origin and informed consent of the specimens on exhibition. Premier Exhibitions stated that the bodies – largely of unidentified and unclaimed persons – were obtained legally under Chinese law. The Florida State Attorney General (who is a Republican candidate for Governor) ruled that the origins of the specimens were suspicious and that a minor committee, the Florida Anatomical Board, had jurisdiction over authorizing the exhibition. That board met and voted 4-2 to deny permission, but then stated that the Attorney General or some other law enforcement agency would have to enforce that decision. Thus far, none have – but the event was a publicity bonanza for MOSI. Subsequent comments in the visitor books clearly support the museum’s decision to open the exhibition based on its own determination of the source of the bodies.

Here are formal statements regarding the sources of the bodies:

"The specimens in this exhibit are from voluntary body donors-individuals who bequeathed that upon their death, their bodies could be used in this exhibition."
- MSI & GLSC BODY WORLDS web sites, accessed August 29, 2005.

"All of the bodies were obtained through the Dalian Medical University of Plastination Laboratories in the People's Republic of China….The Dalian Medical University of Plastination Laboratories legally obtains the bodies from various medical schools and universities throughout Asia through legal procedures for the purposes of science education."
- media page MOSI BODIES…THE EXHIBITION web site accessed on August 31, 2005.

The Universe Within exhibition’s web site makes no mention of body sources. San Francisco’s ABC-TV affiliate learned that the source of the bodies is a factory in Nanjing, China, that prepares specimens for medical research and teaching. This contradicts statements from the exhibition’s promoter and the venue’s executive director that they came from Peking University.

The Russian media reported on August 22 that one of von Hagens' suppliers, a Siberian professor, was found guilty of illegally obtaining 51 bodies for delivery to von Hagens, in a case that goes back to 2001. (http://www.en.rian.ru/society/ 20050822/41200947.html)

The Visitor Experience

Based on my personal visits to three exhibitions open this summer, where I was a “visitor” watching and listening to other visitors and reading comments literally as they were entered in the visitor comment books, the body exhibits are popular, enjoyable and very thought-provoking. The atmosphere in the exhibitions is calm but curious, with intense low-volume conversations, lots of pointing at specimens while posturing like the specimen or pointing at the visitor’s own body, and occasional animated conversations with complete strangers. Seldom does one encounter a museum audience so intensely engaged.

The audience is atypical of science centers. There are many senior citizens, sometimes as a couple, but also with adult children and grandchildren in tow. There are family groups and, most unusual for these institutions, there are numerous older teens and twenty-somethings. Kim Burtnyk has evaluated the family audience (see accompanying article) at the California Science Center. It would be fascinating to do similar studies on the 50+ crowd as well as the younger set, often there as couples.

There is little overt voyeurism, especially given the literally “in your face” nature of the male sex organs in many whole-body plastinates throughout all the exhibitions and the clear display of female sex organs in the reproduction area.

Finally, the gift shops are busy. The relatively small MOSI shop – which it stocks from commercial sources – sells out to bare shelves regularly, requiring restocking during open hours. Merchandise ranges from the truly tacky (spinal column pens and brain key chains) to very serious anatomical illustrations and three-dimensional models.

Institutional Impact

All four museums shared the substantial impact the exhibition has had on them as institutions. The clear need to engage the ethical and religious communities via advisory committiees and open discussion of the ethics of display of human bodies (so well demonstrated by the CSC and emulated by subsequent venues) has opened important new relationships. Well aware of the controversies that dogged the BODY WORLDS exhibitions in Europe, the American institutions have been very careful to keep their various constituencies engaged in the exhibition’s arrival and presentation; the absence of Europeanstyle controversies attest to the good work the US institutions have done to date and the lessons that they are passing on to other North American institutions that will receive these exhibitions.

It is worth noting that when BODY WORLDS came to the CSC, it was the first time the exhibition had been presented in a non-profit science education venue. Thus, a new approach had to be developed and some of the “over the top” marketing tools used by von Hagens in Europe (e.g., a public autopsy in London and putting the pregnant woman on a bus in Berlin) were simply inappropriate. And the whole-body poses went from being “artistic” to being “educational.”

All have convened bioethics advisory committees that include academic ethicists and clergy. The museums also have developed new relationships with their local biomedical and educational partners. This seems to be especially the case in Cleveland, with its Cleveland Clinic and several medical schools. In fact, the GLSC developed a lengthy series of programs featuring conversations with medical students and professionals as well as with biological illustrators. Each museum has attracted trained medical professionals as docents/explainers in their exhibition.

Extensive materials are available online for the use of both teachers and parents. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.

MOSI used the arrival of BODIES…THE EXHIBITION to assess the mission-relatedness of the exhibition, to reaffirm its educational goals, and to develop a set of Rules of Conduct. This document clearly states that the human bodies are being used appropriately, in accordance with domestic and international law, that the purpose of the exhibition is to educate and inspire, and that MOSI believes in informed consent.

The Blockbuster Phenomenon

The CSC attracted a reported 930,000 visitors to BODY WORLDS and BODY WORLDS 2 between July 2, 2004 and March 27, 2005. Numbers are not yet in from Chicago and Cleveland, but MSI is reporting attendance coming close to its all-time big draw, Titanic. MOSI, a lower profile organization, drew 12,000 to its opening weekend. To date, the BODY WORLDS exhibitions worldwide have attracted over 17 million visitors in less than nine years.

A measure of “blockbusterness” is web presence. Table 2 shows the results of Google searches for the various body exhibitions on August 28, 2005. There is substantial recognition of the basic exhibit and strong suggestion that the controversy over the exhibition in Tampa led to considerable attention to that particular presentation.

However, lest these science centers feel that they have penetrated the upper echelons of public attention, I decided to take a look at the biggest current exhibition in the art/anthropology world, the return of King Tut with its first venue currently operating at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (thus facilitating a bit of a comparison with the bodies exhibition at the CSC). Despite the substantial attention being paid to human body exhibits, an art/archeology show featuring an iconic historic figure significantly overshadows them.

Nonetheless, an exhibit that has drawn 17 million visitors worldwide, and over 100,000 per month to the CSC, is in the blockbuster category. As all museum managers and boards know, such a success (and these seem to be so from both attendance and audience satisfaction perspectives) leads to the inevitable question of, “What next?” I am reminded of 20 years ago or so when the moving, roaring, robotic dinosaurs appeared on the scene. The first time they appeared in a community, it was not uncommon to draw a full year’s average attendance in three months. Equally good things happened to the membership rolls and the gift shop sales. And other than a few biggies, usually based on popular culture and/or current events (e.g., Titanic, Lord of the Rings), there really hasn’t been a “next one.” Are plastinated human bodies it?

Economics rears its ugly head here. How much does a human body exhibition net for the presenting institution? To a distressing degree, many museums have come to rely upon an unending stream of traveling and/or blockbuster exhibits to attract the visitation and revenue essential to survival. Will directors and boards see a human body exhibit as the silver bullet that they need to balance the budget, expand the membership, attract the corporate sponsorships, and otherwise maintain their competitive position?

Vendor competition

We now have dueling body vendors as the North American market opens. Gunther von Hagens’ Institute for Plastination was the first into the North American market and, by the fall of 2005, will have placed exhibitions in five institutions. We understand that a third BODY WORLDS unit is in preparation. In late summer, the BODIES… THE EXHIBITION presentation made its premiere in Tampa, FL, presented by Premiere Exhibitions of Atlanta. There already are legal discussions between these two exhibition presenters, initially over which promoter should have gotten the venue at the Great Lakes Science Center. In addition, von Hagens has successfully sued an Asian body exhibition promoter for duplication of body poses. In an interesting way, this rather parallels (without the lawsuits) the development of the robotic dinosaur exhibitions. A technology apparently initially developed by the Japanese firm Kokoro was adopted by the U.S. firm Dinamation, and quite a competition occurred through the 80s and well into the 90s. Ultimately Dinamation failed, to be succeeded by Dinomae, but several others also developed robotic exhibits so there now are multiple vendors selling virtually identical products. In the course of this competition, the array of venues expanded; from initial presentations in science and natural history museums, robotic dinosaurs and other creatures now are in children’s museums, zoos, shopping malls, state fairs, and who knows where else.

Will human body exhibitions follow the same pattern?

An aspect of vendor competition in the body exhibit world that differs significantly from the robotic dinosaur world is the source and preparation of specimens. The difficulties encountered by MOSI regarding the Chinese origin of its specimens seem to have been overcome. Von Hagens has been challenged several times about the source of his specimens, with allegations that they came from Soviet prison camps, executed criminals, and so on. The Universe Within, which closed recently at the Masonic Hall in San Francisco, suffered from great displeasure from the Bay Area Chinese community as well as poor plastination technique which resulted in bodies leaking both plastic and fat.

A rush to provide more specimens and more exhibitions for the North American market may well result in some unfortunate situations for institutions that do not ensure both the quality of the product they receive and the appropriate and necessary validation of both the sources of specimens and legal consent of the specimens or their representatives for both plastination and display.

References

Geller, Judith B. (editor), 2005.
“Bodies…The Exhibition.”
Premiere Exhibitions, Atlanta, GA. 63pp.

Von Hagens, Gunther and Angelina Whalley, 2004.
"BODY WORLDS – The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies."
Institute for Plastination, Heidelberg, Germany. 319pp.

West, Robert M., 2002.
“The Human Body on Display”.
The Informal Learning Review 54 (May-June): 1, 4-7.

West, Robert M., 2004.
“BODY WORLDS Exhibition in Los Angeles.”
The Informal Learning Review 67 (July-August): 9-10.

Robert “Mac” West is the Editor and Publisher of The Informal Learning Review. He may be reached at ile@informallearning.com.

Click here to subscribe

Back to ILR archive

Traveling
Exhibitions
Database