Bodyworlds Exhibit: Less Science, more Fetish

bodyworlds
Originally uploaded by alflamont.

Ok, so I visited the Bodyworlds Exhibit at the california science center this weekend, and I'm a little on the disturbed side for it.
Originally, my friends and I were all for it. Who can't stand a bit of the grotesque, in the name of science? And assuredly, the first part of the exhibit was disgusting, but educational. The bodies are plastisiced (sp?) and all the innards are then in view in their natural state.
Amazing yes? Well, then we go upstairs. The second part of the exhibit plummets into a bizzare danse macabre, where the skinned bodies of people are posed into horrible poses simulating life, but not necessarily informing. Most horribly is the flayed man pictured above (With my camera phone against the rules). His skin and muscles are drawn out, his hands in a "Boo" sort of manner and a weird straw hat on his head. How educational is this? I admit, the woman and fetus was impressive, the Vascular bodies are AMAZING, but as the exhibit continues...a baketball player, a gymnast, a swimmer, a CHESS PLAYER? What? Why are we seeing all these things? Are we now at an art exhibit? A Guy on a horse, holding his brain. Isn't that excessive?? Ridiculous? We get no perception of the human body with this model, all it is is an exercise in the technique that Dr. Gunter Van Hagens loves so much, and in the end, as far as art goes, it sucks, and as far as science goes, it sucks. This exhibit is to Science and anatomy, what the London Dungeon is to Art and History. A sideshow, devoid of class and value, brought to a general public by euro-trash, who know how to appeal to our worst instincts.