Anatomy Art: Fascination beneath the Surface

摘要

This exhibition comes to Belgium having already been shown in seven centres in four countries. With more than six million visitors over five years, it is the most successful exhibition ever. I saw it in Berlin, where it was extended to a further week with 24 hour opening and queues of up to six hours to see more than 200 real but plastinated human anatomical specimens. Producer Gunther von Hagens is the inventor of the plastination process in which human tissues are impregnated with plastics and silicone rubber to become permanent, colourful, and odourless. His exhibition shows organs, body parts, and whole human bodies amid tasteful green foliage. The dissections are virtuoso pieces with many exploded multiplane views and openings into body cavities. Every hand has a fine tendon dissection, every perineum shows well tackled wedding tackle. There are superb nerve dissections and vascular injections. Bodies are sectioned into slices in new and interesting planes giving unusual interior views through doors, drawers, and panels. Many separated organ systems are displayed hanging in space. One exhibit shows fetal development in stages with real dead babies including deformed ones. There are pathological examples of cardiovascular disease and neoplasia. Medical devices and implants are shown in position.