Since 1995 Body Worlds have created spectacular exhibitions around the world. They plan to stage a new show solely dedicated to corpses copulating, they said in an interview with Reuters.
Married couple Gunther von Hagens and Angelina Whalley aim to democratize anatomy by exhibiting cadavers prepared using a technique invented by von Hagens called “plastination” that removes water from specimens and preserves them with silicon rubber or epoxy resin.
Body Worlds creative director Whalley said:
“It’s not my intention to show certain sexual poses. My goal is really to show the anatomy and the function,” she said, adding the sex exhibition could be staged next year.
It is not the first time that Body Worlds has shown dead bodies in the act of sex. In their exhibition ‘Life Cycles’ of May this year, which focuses on the human experience from conception to death they exhibited a male and female cadaver having intercourse. The exhibition has now opened in Zurich on Friday.
German politicians called the current “Cycle of Life” opened in Zurich on Friday, “revolting” and “unacceptable”.
27 million people have visited Body Worlds exhibitions and they have often been criticized for showing corpses stripped of their skin often in theatrical positions.
Von Hagens performed the first public autopsy for 170 years in the UK in 2002. And he hoped that the Swiss, who have a long tradition of direct democracy and personal freedom, would be tolerant of the Cycle of Life’s sexual content.
“In Germany I am the mucky pup. I am loved by the masses but in intellectual circles they think I have a screw loose,” said von Hagens.
“Switzerland is the first country that already said from the outset that we could show whatever we wanted,” added von Hagens.
Von Hagens is responsible for positioning the bodies in their poses and says that he has lengthy discussions with his wife Whalley on how to do this without crossing the lines of decency.
“We have discussed whether it is proper to show homosexuality and in what way. This is a very delicate subject,” said von Hagens, “But when we see the development of this over the past 20 or 30 years, it is more and more accepted.”
Von Hagens and Whalley said they both intended to donate their bodies for plastination. They see plastination as alternative to burial or cremation.
The anatomists said they aimed to engage visitors on a philosophical and aesthetic level, turning away accusations their exhibits portrayed only the mechanical functions of the body and failed to show what made people human.
“The body that’s left is the vessel of the soul and the soul’s vessel of course evokes the soul,” said von Hagens.
Whalley said the absence of the soul from the exhibits helped viewers to analyze themselves.
“It is the absence of the soul from the exhibited bodies that makes it all the more present, because visitors reflect on the fact what they are looking at was a loved one,” she said.
This is just wrong on so many levels. It’s not science. It’s just gore for shock value, not much different than gory movies. Now, I’m not against donating bodies to science. But by “science”, I’m referring to medical schools, where bodies are handled by students who received countless hours of training on ethics, and will be buried or cremated when the medical work is done. And in the end, doctors will be able to learn new surgical methods from that. With Body Worlds, it’s just putting bodies up for the semi-educated people (the uneducated people don’t go to museums) to gawk and stare at. If you’re really desperate to learn about the inner workings of human anatomy, watch Saw or Hostel.
“Lychelle says:
I see absolutely no difference between objectification of this kind and that which we are forced to endure when viewing pornography. It is all without life and soul and is also ’sad to my heart.’”
Wait wait wait… who forces you to view pornography?
This is so sad and wrong. It’s a desecration of humanity from the perspective of the people whose bodies end up in this situation as their consent is questionable and their eternal poses lack basic decency and respect for the deceased as well as the gift given to humanity – to make love….not just mechanical sex. Really, this has no positive value. I hope everyone boycotts it and stops the insanity of the Body’s show. They were prisoners!!!! I can’t believe people haven’t been outraged about this…I’m hoping maybe this does it??
Having just viewed the San Diego exhibition, I was greatly educated and intensely moved by what was presented. I cried for the fetuses who never had a chance at life and the mother-to-be holding her unborn child in her uterus. I learned to deeply respect the body, the choices we make, and the willingness of those who donated their bodies. And I am grateful to those who conceived and created a venue that has allowed me to preceive my body differently.
As to future shows, I simply don’t know how I would respond to an entire exhibition dedicated to copulation. It seems more appropriate to incorporate a section within the exhibit to the subject, as was done with the male and female reproductive organs, then dedicate an entire show to sex. Doing otherwise tends to blur the message.
I see absolutely no difference between objectification of this kind and that which we are forced to endure when viewing pornography. It is all without life and soul and is also “sad to my heart.”
His exhibits are great and thought provoking. I am sure the people donating their bodies knew how they could be used. They understood that a body is a body and a body without a soul is not the same as a body with soul. These models are nothing but material. To suggest that they aren’t being respected suggests they are more than that. I have medical training and took human dissection labratories for nearly 100 hours. I got a much greater apreciation for what makes us human from seeing Body Worlds than from all my time in lab. To see everyone taken down to the same level with all the skin, fat and fluids removed really makes you appreciate the power of the soul. Without it, plus some extra body materials, all males are the same and all females are the same. Our souls, thoughts, feelings and emotions make us unique. I have not seen the sex exhibit, but from seeing some previous work, I am sure that the presentation will be done to educate and provoke thought, not to titillate. See Barton, this is not meant to be an attractive seen to you
Hiding the lack of respect for the deceased behind the word “art” is a tired, lame excuse. If “The body that’s left is the vessel of the soul and the soul’s vessel of course evokes the soul,” as he said, then he knows this is a lack of respect and decorum.
He has become a hack that needs to find a new art form.
The artist has a history of using political prisoners corpses … knowingly.
HE does not have respect.
If I understood correctly, the individuals did not know each other before death and agreed to their bodies being used for a Body Worlds exhibit about sex. I could be wrong though…
I think of myself as an open thinking man. When I look at two cadavers copulating, somehow it saddens me. This is an activity of life and love; yet to see two that are not really alive and present arranged to be as if in a virtual living circumstance that does something sad to my heart.
To see two that were alive and when alive had the opportunity to choose each other and to make love with each other now in the position that was not of their choosing but of Günter van Hagens choosing then it somehow is sad and not even arousing.
It is almost like forcing two children to be in this circumstance that would not be of their choosing. That is what is sad.
It is the fact that these bodies we are viewing once had choice but now they do not and are only puppets of Herr van Hagens and wife.
It is sad to see two that where once alive and once had the ability to choose to live as wonderful in love people to be controlled with virtual strings which mock that precious and beautiful of living experiences (a physical expression of living beings) that comes close to sharing of souls with each other now being together in that same physical way but with no chance to share their souls with each other.
It makes me want to cry in sadness for those two that were once so present and alive and lovely. The act is not to be artificially created, it cannot be, and that is why porn is not really attractive. Two people in mechanical motion with no sharing of love does not make an attractive scene for me.
Barton Sagar