Gisele, Derek and I went to “Body Worlds” this week.
If you haven’t heard about this, it’s an exhibit of real human bodies that have undergone a process called “plastination”. Water and fats from body tissues are replaced with plastic “polymers”. The result is bodies completely preserved and natural looking in various poses and levels of disassembly.
The skin is always removed so that in most cases the muscles are all visible. In many cases the chest and abdomen are opened so the internal organs are visible, or sometimes even removed from the body as a whole assembly.
It was fascinating. I learned a lot about the body, and have a much better understanding of how it all fits together, and where the internal organs are.
It probably sounds gruesome, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all — all my senses told me that I was looking at plastic models instead of the real thing. Gisele was bothered by it a little, though she also felt that it was fascinating and well worthwhile.
All the bodies were donated by their owners before death, of course.
It will be in Phoenix through May 28, and is showing in other cities around the country and world. Go see it if you get a chance.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Heather // Apr 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm
That is awesome! I have to go see that! Maybe we should get a babysitter! 🙂
2 Donna // Apr 1, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Glenda and I plan to go very soon.
3 Don // Apr 7, 2007 at 8:17 am
I have a fun task for you Daryl. Write a WordPress Widget that will put random pictures from my gallery on my sidebar. Donna and I could both use it. Doesn’t that sound fun?
On another note I wish Body Worlds was coming back to LA soon. It sounds fascinating.
4 Donna // Apr 30, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I went to see Body Worlds this past weekend with my girlfriends. Very interesting, indeed. Like you, Daryl, I felt like I was looking at models, not real people. I was surprised by the size of many of the internal organs — some larger, some smaller than I had thought. Don, I was very glad you quit smoking when I looked at the lung specimens.
The exhibit showed that every single person is unique, though similar.