What I did on my day off
Now that I’m back to regularly scheduled days off (Wednesday and Saturday), I’ve been able to plan things a bit better.
This past Wednesday I went to see Body Worlds 3 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
It’s a mostly interesting, sometimes bizarre exhibition of human bodies. Dr. Gunther von Hagens invented a process called Plastination that basically replaces soft body parts with plastic like substances. There has been a bit of controversy in the past about where the bodies were obtained, but OMSI seemed to be satisfied enough with the exhibition to promote it.
My use of the term bizarre is mostly on the way that some of the bodies were posed. Hard to explain, but if anyone has seen this or any of the other 2 Body Worlds, you probably know what I mean. One of the exhibits was of an adult camel. The body’s sides were open to show internal organs — ok — but the head and neck were split in thirds, with one third touching the ground, one third fully raised and the middle third at a halfway point between the two.
One of the most intriguing was a display named ‘The Skin Man’. A skinless cadaver, standing with his right arm outstretched and his complete skin draped over his right hand. Really, not as disturbing as it sounds.
Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition. Even with the sometimes strange poses, the bodies were treated respectfully and I actually learned quite a bit about our inner workings.
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I’ve heard alot about this exhibit. I hope it comes close enough so that I can go one day!
I went to this exhibit when it was in southern California and I was visitng my daughter. I was fascinated throughout the whole thing and wished I could have spent more time there. My daughter, who tends toward squeamishness, was equally as taken with the exhibit. In the few years since seeing it, we have both pondered the expectant mother on display. My daughter, now 9 months pregnant herself, has been puzzled by what could have caused this woman’s death because she did appear to be healthy (except she was dead). I was also taken by the hair and nails of those on display, an Asian women, a man with a tatoo, the horse, and so on. They seem to live on in the most beautiful and educational manner. I would certainly love to see it all again.
I just saw in the newspaper today that this exhibit is coming to our Science Center. Thanks to your post, I’m going to try to get to it.
Hmmm, fascinating, but a little disturbing. I’ve dated men that I claimed I could see right through, but I never dreamed they looked like that!
Um. That really *is* as disturbing as it sounds! [shiver] I hear the exhibit is great, though. Nice to see you back to regular posting.