I saw a CNN piece earlier in the week about controversy surrounding an exhibit at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry called Bodies.
(Very cool article about it here.)
They're real cadavers from China, preserved in a plastic resin. They are posed in a number of actions, and are peeled down in differing layers. One man's muscles dance with his skeleton as the partner.
An ethics committee, along with others in Florida, were trying to prevent the exhibition's opening. It looks like it opened anyway. Part of the complaint revolved around people thinking it wasn't preserving the dignity that the dead should be treated with.
One of the exhibit designers, was asked why real bodies when it could have all been done with plastic.
His answer was that with plastic you can show what the body looks like. But it's still an artificial display. With real bodies it's, well, real. You can't deny it. It's all the more valid that way.
As to the dignity thing, I have no problem with it. Cadavers get donated to medical school for students to practice dissecting. I would rather my body be used for an eye-opening and educational exhibit than to be turned into just an object for practice. But maybe I have a different idea of dignity.
Posted by fictionman at April 1, 2006 10:36 AM | TrackBack (0)