Anyone been to the Bodies Exhibition?

remey said:
As title asks!
If so, would you recommend?

I heard on the radio this morning that the medical coleges are asking people not to go. Why?
I havent heard muich about it but would be curious.
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I have tickets for tomorrow morning!!

Have you any links to where the medical colleges are asking people not to go (or was it just on radio)?

I assume its for the same reasons that people were against Gunther Von Haagens Bodyworlds exhibition - that people think its morally wrong to view dead bodies. The medical colleges may not be happy that something that they studied years to see are now visible to the general public.

I see it as educational - I dont view it as 'art' - some people may have issues with it being viewed as art.

I will post back tomorrow and let you know what it was like.
 
truthseeker, I don't think there is a problem with viewing 'dead bodies' per se, the problem is that these bodies were used because they were left unclaimed in Chinese hospitals. Under Chinese law these corpses were seen as fair game to exploit in this manner. How would we feel if on a tour of the world we suddenly saw a long-lost relative treated in this manner and displayed on a podium in some gallery.
As for any medical info it is meant to impart, I firmly believe that the majority of people who visit it are not there for the medical information but for the voyuristic element of the show.
I am all for people knowing about how thier bodies work, and the importance of medical students,nurses and others in the medical world having access to cadavers in the course of their training, provided consent has been granted and the person is granted the human dignity which we all hope will be meted out to us one day.
I am also of the opinion that contrary to the way this exhibition is being marketed that in fact it is not 'suitable for all ages'.
 
ophelia said:
truthseeker, I don't think there is a problem with viewing 'dead bodies' per se, the problem is that these bodies were used because they were left unclaimed in Chinese hospitals. Under Chinese law these corpses were seen as fair game to exploit in this manner. How would we feel if on a tour of the world we suddenly saw a long-lost relative treated in this manner and displayed on a podium in some gallery.
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Unclaimed corpses have a long history of being used for medical education and research. Its unlikely a person has relatives who recognise them if the corpse was unclaimed.

ophelia said:
As for any medical info it is meant to impart, I firmly believe that the majority of people who visit it are not there for the medical information but for the voyuristic element of the show.
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Possibly.


ophelia said:
I am all for people knowing about how thier bodies work, and the importance of medical students,nurses and others in the medical world having access to cadavers in the course of their training, provided consent has been granted and the person is granted the human dignity which we all hope will be meted out to us one day.
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I personally dont think that it is undignified for someones mortal remains to be used in a exhibiton this way.

ophelia said:
I am also of the opinion that contrary to the way this exhibition is being marketed that in fact it is not 'suitable for all ages'.
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You could be right there - I will answer this after Ive been - I actually havent seen any marketing for it, I just got tickets when a friend directed me to the website.
 
truthseeker, You say 'Its unlikely a person has relatives who recognise them if the corpse was unclaimed'. Not true. I am speaking from personal experience - details of which I can't go into here.
China is a huge place, it wouldn't be easy to trace relatives.
Personally, I think it is wrong for human remains to be used in this fashion. There is a huge difference between cadavers being used for anatomy instruction and bodies been treated with preservation techniques for the 'entertainment of the masses' and the accumulation of wealth for the organisers.
 
I though the law in Ireland was that you couldn't own a body.

What's to stop someone going in and walking off with them ?
 
ophelia said:
truthseeker, You say 'Its unlikely a person has relatives who recognise them if the corpse was unclaimed'. Not true. I am speaking from personal experience - details of which I can't go into here.
China is a huge place, it wouldn't be easy to trace relatives.
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I hear what you are saying, but I also believe the method in which the bodies are prepared for viewing leaves them quite unrecognisable from the person they were in life. However - I will wait until I have seen the exhibition with my own eyes to confirm if this is really true or not.

ophelia said:
Personally, I think it is wrong for human remains to be used in this fashion. There is a huge difference between cadavers being used for anatomy instruction and bodies been treated with preservation techniques for the 'entertainment of the masses' and the accumulation of wealth for the organisers.
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I accept that this is how you feel about it. I feel differently and believe that someones mortal remains hold nothing of the person that they were in life, the body is only a vehicle for life, once passed on the person it is just a mass of dead cells (this in only my opinion).
It doesnt offend me.
 
I know of a group of physical therapists who were mightily impressed when they went to view the exhibition in the US.
Keep an open mind and go see..... we all have so much to learn and it brings home the wonders of the human and of science.
 
Went to the exhibition this morning - and it was fantastic.

Its actually difficult to believe that they are real bodies, they look like models of the body (extremely intricate ones at that).

Very educational.

To go back to some issues raised by earlier posts. It would be absolutely impossible to recognise any of the people. The bodies are prepared in such a way that all distinguishing features are removed (eyes for example are replaced by plastic eyes) and practically all skin has been dissected away to show the internal structures. The bodies look 'generic', no one is any more individual looking than any other.

Voyeurism - this is not something that I would imagine is going on. The exhibition is presented in a very clinical and educational fashion. I cant imagine a voyeur getting any more out of it than they would seeing a mummy in a museum. It is simply not presented in a way that would encourage voyeurism. Purely from a production design viewpoint the exhibition is presented with very dim lighting in the rooms, with each piece lit up for examination. There are educational placards accompanying each piece. There are a number of full body models but also a number of individual pieces presented (like dissected bone pieces, individual organs from the body and an emphasis on different anomalies that might result from lifestyle or disease). There is massive discouragement of smoking with pieces showing the results of smoking (smokers lungs and heart, various organs that are diseased with smoking citied as a factor in the particular disease) - they even have a large glass box for smokers to deposit their packs of cigarettes in after the shock of seeing the smokers lungs.

The exhibition is definitely suitable for all ages. There were a number of children there and there is nothing in it that I wouldnt take a child to see. In fact I would encourage people to bring children because it is fantastically educational. I overheard a number of children asking their adult companions questions about different pieces and it was clear that the children were fascinated by what they were seeing. There is absolutely no 'ugh' factor at all - its like a good anatomy book brought to life.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is presented in a firmly educational manner - no different than the type of presentations you would see in any museum. It is not presented as 'entertainment' per se, but as instructional. There is also no sense of 'fun' happening, the exhibition was largely silent besides people quietly discussing the wonders of what they were seeing. It really was like a visit to a good museum with incredibly interesting exhibits.

My only critisism was that there werent enough exhibits!! Youd go round it in an hour and see everything in detail.
 
No doubt the exhibition did amaze some people, who wouldn't be amazed by the workings of the human body at such close quarters. I am not going to be convinced however, that it is right. I'm afraid the basic tenet of respect for the dead is what this exhibition lacks - dead who never gave consent in life to have their bodies used for this purpose.
 
Hi

I was at this exhibition last year in the states.

I did find it very interesting & educational. It really didnt feel like we were looking at dead bodies.

But a word of warning. There was a section in the exhibition which showed babies. This I found very upsetting. There was a warning before you entered about the content of this area. I kind of wish I hadnt entered now. Some of it was interesting to see like the tiny tiny enbryo, but when it got to foetus & full term babies I found it hard.

Other than that a very good exhibition.
 
amisafe said:
Hi

I was at this exhibition last year in the states.

I did find it very interesting & educational. It really didnt feel like we were looking at dead bodies.

But a word of warning. There was a section in the exhibition which showed babies. This I found very upsetting. There was a warning before you entered about the content of this area. I kind of wish I hadnt entered now. Some of it was interesting to see like the tiny tiny enbryo, but when it got to foetus & full term babies I found it hard.

Other than that a very good exhibition.
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was at one in manchester last year, but the one i was at was called boay worlds, different to the one in dublin. Different DR. was brilliant
 
ophelia said:
No doubt the exhibition did amaze some people, who wouldn't be amazed by the workings of the human body at such close quarters. I am not going to be convinced however, that it is right. I'm afraid the basic tenet of respect for the dead is what this exhibition lacks - dead who never gave consent in life to have their bodies used for this purpose.
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There has always been a taboo around the dead human body. If it werent for people like Albinus or Da Vinci who broke this taboo and looked inside dead human bodies we wouldnt have modern medicine. Ive twice been unlucky enough to have to go under a surgeons knife and only for people who wanted to see the inside of the human body there wouldnt have been a surgery to repair what was wrong. I feel that respect for the living is more important and that it is for a greater good for people to learn about the insides of the human body from dead humans. By learning about the inside of the body we are helping current and future generations of humans - by not looking inside because of respect for the dead we will never be able to move medicine forward.

I agree that dead human bodies should be treated with respect but in this instance, preparing a dead human body in an instructional manner is not being disrespectful to that human.
 
Truthseeker, I think you are missing my point. I have no problem about dead bodies or learning from dead bodies. I have laid out more people than I have had hot dinners and also attended a number of post-mortems.
The reality is that medicine has a code of ethics, consent is the corner stone of all good treatment to the body (dead or alive).
When this slackens we have a situation like the organ retention scandal a few years ago.
Do you really feel that consent is not necessary before bodies are carved up?
 
ophelia said:
Do you really feel that consent is not necessary before bodies are carved up?
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It all depends what they are being carved up for. If its for instructional/educational purposes then - no.

Do you think it is wrong that mummies are displayed without consent in museums worldwide?
 
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