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body worlds show...

updated sun 21 aug 05

 

dannon rhudy on thu 18 aug 05


Snail said:

> I would love to see this show.....>>>

I can imagine that this show could be
very interesting - though I doubt it has
much to do with "art". However, since
it is shown in a Science/Industry Museum,
then it could be assumed that it is a different
kind of endeavor than one might usually
associate with an art exhibit.

I find anatomy (human or otherwise)
very interesting, and because I do a lot
of figurative work it is useful and necessary
to me. I think of the days of Leonardo, etc.,
and the difficulties students had in learning
anatomy for drawing and painting purposes.
We have many options not available then,
from medical and art texts to shows like
the one under discussion. While it may or
may not be "art" (gimme a break, I'm not
going there for the gazillionth time), it surely
must be informative at many levels.

regards

Dannon Rhudy

Karen Sullivan on thu 18 aug 05


The body worlds show....two parts...was in Los Angeles
This spring...so I made it to part two...
The cadavers are the work Gunther von Haugens...
The discussion of whether the show is science
Or art occurs because of the arrangement of the
Figures in "Artistically arranged poses"
But the show is held in museums of Science and Industry...
Not fine art...
I did see artists...with sketch pads moving
Slowly through the show....drawing....
People with a medical background, engaged
In long discussions over parts...

Initially I was horrified when I entered the
Show...but a fascination with the form
Became the primary reaction...and the experience
Has stayed with me for months...thinking
About the forms....
How parts of my body function and why....


Some of the figures felt like inspector gadget
Versions of bodies...contrived/odd...
I kept trying to anthropomorphize the forms...
others were amazing in
The information they revealed...
the blood vessel circulatory system...only that form
In tact...so one sees how the circulation system
Exists....amazing....
Little details that remain....and haunt me still...
Like the body that was sliced in wafer vertical
Portions...and the eye lashes still in place...
I remember the eyelashes the most....
Or the body with tattoos still visible...
So perhaps the creator's arrangement of
Parts were a little hard to take...
But there were truly astonishing
Revelations to experience...
Seeing the body in three dimensional
Form as opposed to my previous experience
Of drawings or illustrations is the power
Of the show...
For centuries we have tried to
Explore our humanity...Vesalius in 16c Italy
Or Michelangelo's research...
And are we not grateful for the information
We have acquired of how our bodies work....
I think that perhaps our recent history
Puts a spin on the content of the show....
Or the context of the exhibit....
The value placed on bodies as exhibits/sideshows
Or as medical research/science....
There has been some discussion with the
Acquisition of the cadavers that has
Caused some concern...
And not to absolutely horrify...
There was a news report that the bodies were
Dripping...the plastination solution somehow
Not as stable as expected...
I decided I did not want to watch the IMAX movie
Version of the body. The movie travels with
The show..somehow animated
Images with sound was more than I could take....

So...take the show for what it is...and
The content....decide whether you can
Participate with consideration of
The content and your values of our humanity....
It is a certainly powerful experience....

Bamboo karen

Snail Scott on thu 18 aug 05


I would love to see this show.

Years ago, art students at UNM were permitted to
visit the anatomy labs at the medical school and
make sketches. That privilege was revoked after
Joel-Peter Witkin (a student at the time) was
discovered to have 'borrowed' a number of 'parts'
for his work. (They found 'em in his old locker,
after graduation.)

I do like his work, though.

UNM seems to have a love/hate relationship with
several of its most famous art alumni. ;)

-Snail

Cheryl Fisher on fri 19 aug 05


According to the write up in the Ticket (entertainment, etc. section) in
this morning's Sarasota Herald Tribune the cadaver's were legally
purchased, although no written permission from family from China. Part
of what they asked for was people who had died from specific disease
(prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc.) so people could see
the effects of the disease. It had a soft opening, opened two days
before it was supposed to, because of interest. I think they had two
thousand people yesterday. It sounds interesting. Part of me is
uncomfortable with it because of being real people but part of me is
interested. There was a program several years ago, and a book, about the
Muetter (sp.) Museum, which is a medical museum showing diseases
(effects of diseases on real people) and medical instruments throughout
history. It was fascinating to see how we see this in this day and age
as opposed to 100 years ago, for example.

I still don't think I would go to see it, but it's interesting.

Cheryl Fisher
caluvpots@verizon.net
Sarasota, Florida USA

pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on sat 20 aug 05


Hi Cheryl, all...



'Legally purchased'...


From whom? and on what basis did the seller 'legally' own them to sell them?


Or, if you trust paperwork from red china, you may as well start buying
those Peruvian 'Bonds' too...


Too, how very sad it continues to be, that no one cares to refer to red
china as anything other than 'china'...

How feeble are our wits to have been so led...

You can sell the american people...anything...

And they have, too.




Love,

Phil
el ve


----- Original Message -----
From: "Cheryl Fisher"

> According to the write up in the Ticket (entertainment, etc. section) in
> this morning's Sarasota Herald Tribune the cadaver's were legally
> purchased, although no written permission from family from China.



----snip----


> Cheryl Fisher