BODIES at MOSI
Post contains descriptions of dead bodies and other unsupported. Not for the weak-stomached. This week, the Museum Of Science and Industry (MOSI) here in Tampa is showing (for the first time in America) BODIES the Exhibition. If you've never heard of this, here's a summary: the exhibit features "people" doing normal everyday things, eating, running, playing games. Just without skin.This group took cadavers and processed them in such a way that all of their tissue was replaced with a rubber/plastic substance, so that the cadavers retained their appearance. The result is a surprisingly accurate display of the human body's inner workings. Yes, like Inside-Out Boy. The potential learning that could come from this display is pretty obvious, for school children and adults alike. But there is controversy- and it's not about the educational value, it's about the moral.
Apparently, the firm who created this exhibit used unclaimed cadavers from China. These are unidentified Chinese people who may or may not have friends and family, and who may or may not have wanted their remains to be used in this way. So here's the ethical dilemma: is it okay to use the bodies of people who didn't give permission to do so? Well, there's no easy answer- but I have an opinion: as I see it the use of these bodies is not protested by the families or friends of the deceased, in fact there is no friends or family known, and there is no way to determine what their desires would have been, therefore these remains would be buried or cremated unceremoniously if this exhibit did not exist. The alternative to that has so much potential benefit- the research, the learning, the money made by learning institutions- that the objections to this use of the bodies do not outweigh them. I said I had an opinion- I didn't say it would be short.
Now it's getting really interesting because the state's Anatomical Board (who has oversight over bodies used for research and education) has refused to sanction it. Even better, in a dazzling show of defiance, MOSI is planning to go ahead with the opening this weekend. Will the state try to block the opening? Will there be mass protests from those who are morally opposed to the exhibit? Who knows, but it will be interesting to see!
So if you're in Tampa, or if this thing comes to your town- give it a chance. You might be grossed out, you might be offended. But you might learn something. Assuming "the man" doesn't shut it down. There's plenty more coverage of this story on Tampa Bay Online and The St. Pete Times Online if you're interested.
posted by Jeff @ 11:40 AM
3 Comments:
that is just really gross... but interesting. i am fascinated by how the human body works and i probably would've become a good doctor if i wasn't so squeamish about dead people. i get spooked in cemetaries and in museums with mummies on display; it's that bad. any inkling where the exhibit is going to go next?
Yes, but does the interesting overcome the gross? :)
I haven't heard about the next stop for the exhibit, but I know it'll be here untill Jan/Feb of 06.
Thanks for stopping by!
why yes, it does... i think it's the eyes and the hands that bother me. and the freshly deceased bother me too because they still have muscle spasms for a couple days afterwards so you might hear them moan or see body parts twitch. so provided that the body has been decapitated, the hands amputated, and the deceased has been dead for more than a week, i think i can handle it. it's like an anesthetized view of a body. i live in the washington, d.c. area, and i haven't heard a thing about it coming this way... :-/ mebbe i'll make a trip down to tampa before the year is out.
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