Page 8, 19th April 2002

19th April 2002

Page 8

Page 8, 19th April 2002 — A grim anatomy lesson
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A grim anatomy lesson

Science
Simon Martelli
Walking around the Body Worlds exhibition, the most immediate thing one notices, alongside the plasticated corpses and the decorative foliage,,are the intermittent gasps of revulsion from passing spectators. Or was it amazement? Instinctively, I inferred that people were generally revolted rather than amazed, if the feeling of relief at not having eaten anything beforehand was anything to go by.
Professor Gunther von Hagens is an anatomist, pathologist and entrepreneur who regards his work not as art, but an attempt to democratise the experience of dead human flesh, to make us understand our bodies better and, by displaying organs infected by self-inflicted diseases, encourage us to live healthier lives. This he does by applying chemical agents to body tissue which then hardens into a tough and incorruptible, "plasticated" form. Not for nothing has he, allegedly, been equated by Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass with the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
Dead bodies tattooed. The entrails, including alcohol-swollen livers and cholesterol-blocked arteries, of dead bodies. Dead bodies flayed, cut into pieces and reconstructed in exploded form. Dead bodies in dramatic poses. Dead foetuses at different stages of development. Dead foetuses with various deformities. The dissected cadaver of a young mother in the eighth month of pregnancy.
So what is this all about? Prof von Hagens has suggested that the Body Worlds experience is extremely relevant to anyone with an amateur interest in human biology. The muscle structure, the course of arteries and nerve chords are all there to be observed. But if a science lesson is required, critics have suggested that Gray's Anatomy is equally, perhaps a great deal more, informative.
Then there is the courageous objective of making us face up to our corporeality and death itself, horrid concepts apparently hidden from us like those harsh realities that a mother hides from her innocent child.
The erect, skinned body of a man holding his own skin before him, with explanatory comments, is a strangely powerful and curious exhibit, as is the intricate plasticated human blood system of a small child, fragile like the
snow-flake, and as complex. Moreover, if you want to give up smoking, observing the tarstained lungs of a heavy smoker may be particularly useful. There is just the one nagging thought, never far away, that here are real people who lived and loved, died and whose mortal remains — including hair, brain matter and genitalia — are paraded in perpetuity.
Prof von Hagens is adamant that many visitors have discovered a new respect for their bodies. He cites the girl who told him she had tried to commit suicide twice, but that after seeing the bodies she would never contemplate harming herself again.
It is rather mystifying that the exhibition really had this effect when, more recently, a university lecturer was so outraged at someone "turning bodies into commercial exhibits" that he smashed one of them to smithereens.
More plausible is the comment by Steffi Graf: "I am now able to understand my body in a much better way." (And play better tennis?) Once the initial horror has worn off, we may learn something about the human body. But as you walk away from the last room containing the plasticated foetuses, expect to feel exhausted rather than inspired. No more gasps of horror (or exultation), but more a kind of desensitised despondency.
Clearly with their incomparable war experience, the Germans have a different, more radical understanding of the role of art/exhibition in the modern world. Which is not to agree with von Hagens that we have nothing to offer in this realm. Damien Hirst's animals in formaldehyde, for all the controversy they caused, at least took us to the shocking extremes. Aesthetically, however, disassembling and reassembling plasticated corpses seems like a mere gimmick when placed alongside bold German innovations by the likes of Joseph Beuys and Anshelm Keifer (both on display for free at the Tate Modern.)
In von Hagens' case, at best, we are reminded of our mortality. Though if there are not more redemptive ways of doing this than looking at flayed corpses, we really must be lacking in vision. At worst, bad publicity was thought to be better than none. "I don't mind if you're sensationalist in your article," he said to one reporter. "More people will come." At £10 a head, you can see why that is enough for him.
The Body Worlds exhibition at the Atlantis Gallery, London EC1 (0207 053 0000) runs to September 29.




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