Body Worlds 2003
I have to say........ this exhibition puts a whole new perspective to the whole idea of signing your body up for science. As I walked through the exhibition, I kept wondering whether all these poor souls knew what was really going to happen to their bodies and the implications of what they had done.
Ok, some brief intro first. This exhibition is currently being held at the Singapore Expo and is basically a showcase of preserved human bodies. What makes this unique from your average bio lab display is firstly, the process used in preserving these bodies. The process of plastination, to be exact, which was invented by Gunther Von Hagens. It is basically the "forced infusion of anatomical specimens with reactive plastics", which seems to preserve the organs and even the nervous system.
It also allows the body to be preserved so well, pieces of muscle can be peeled away from the body, and even every intricacy of the central nervous system is preserved. This I can vouch to. In some of the exhibits, the nerves are preserved so well, they resemble nothing less than pieces of thread, covering our ( their? its? ) entire body. Also makes you wonder what happens if, say, someone sneezes hard in the wrong direction, or spiders decide on the cadavers for their holiday residence. ( Oh honey! This will be perfect! Look, even the web has been built for us!)
There was even one playing chess at a table, and Slayer and I were thinking that that could've been us in our chess-playing days. Eek. ( Noticed however, that they placed the black pieces inaccurately. :p )
They had specimens of the human body, ( male mostly. Slayer says sexist/generalist. I say we women know better than to just sign on the dotted line ) and a section to foetuses. The row of deformed foetuses is.... unnerving. There was a deformed foetus which had its ( his? her? ) brains and intestines growing out of its body, at abt 5 mths I tink, and the sign said it was a disorder present in every 1000 foetuses. Most times it's nothing. Sometimes..............
We tried to take some pix, ( yes, photography was not allowed ) with my camera phone. Since it wasn't allowed, the following took place:
Me: ( pretending to SMS ) All clear?
Slayer: ( Shiftily glancing left and right ) Clear. Quick! Do it now!
Me: There're people here! They'll notice us! ( Students on field trip standing ard us )
Slayer: Damn! She's moving nearer! ( Security staff )
Me: Ok, got it! ( Snap )
Aside: Slayer thinks the pix I took weren't too bad, and that I have a future as a budding paparazzi. My career prospects look so bright at this point of time. The 4 miserable pix I took can be seen on my camera pix website, link at top of page.
Viewing the exhibits is a morbidly fascinating affair. You look at it, and you think, "Good god, is that me? Could that be me?" Or rather that's what I mostly thought. The Slayer, whom I went with, for some reason, thought more in the direction of "Your dick is so small. I pity you." and "The dead foetuses are cool! They should have more!" ( She wrote that last thought in the comment book provided at the end of the exhibition, by the way )
As an aside, if you're reading this, I'm never going to such an exhibition with you again.
Excellent exhibition, especially for
1) budding doctors/nurses/anyone in medical field
2) anyone with a taste for the macabre
3) Jack-the-Ripper wannabes
More references, if I got your interest whetted:
Body Worlds website
