A heads-up: dead people are in this blog post. Yes, I visited a Bodyworlds exhibition again (second link: human exhibit on Flickr) and here is some of what I saw. But first:
Stomach-Churning Rating: 10/10 may be too high (it’s all plastinated anatomy; not gooey bloody stuff) but I’m being wary. There are graphic images of humanity and opinions will vary on the tastefulness; I think they are beautiful. (And to me, Bodyworlds plastination leaves specimens looking more like puppets or statues than disturbing undead) There are images of reproductive anatomy that are not appropriate for children unless parental guidance is along for a “birds and the bees” chat. Got it? OK.
I was in the area so I dropped by after seeing all of the London ads. The Piccadilly Circus exhibition is ~3 floors of audio-guided exhibits focused on the different systems of the human body and how they relate to our health, well-being, and such. As an anatomist those explanations weren’t new to me so I breezed through and focused on the more interesting visuals. But there’s plenty of explanatory audio, placards and specimens for people that are less familiar with the insides of people. What follows will have minimal explanation. I chose what images looked OK to me in terms of artistic anatomy. Click to plastinate your screen with bigger images.
The audio guide was surprisingly lengthy- each stop often had 2 minutes of audio and there were many stops, both cued by location-sensors and by a button you could click on your audio-guide when signs indicated there was “optional” extra audio info. So one could easily spend 2 hours there if one listened to everything.
As an anatomy fan, I spent about 1.5 hours there just appreciating how they (dis)assembled people and what they chose to feature. I’ve seen a lot of Bodyworlds stuff before but I was still gawking in amazement at the technical craft and the creativity involved. And there is always a bit of whimsical/dark humour.
There were a LOT of inspirational phrases posted from famous people, on how to live your life. I liked Ali’s.
There were some claims being made that I wasn’t so sure about in terms of scientific evidence, but showing smoker’s lungs and strokes and other pathologies is powerful dissuasion, I wager, from a bad lifestyle. And that was an overarching theme of the whole exhibit: be good to you.
Autonomic nervous system elegantly displayed.
Most of the subjects were VERY fit; even implausibly so? My hat goes off to them, anyway; or their postmortem augmenters.
Aortic aneurysm.
Rescue in progress (and my apologies to the dude in the background- I tried not to get others in the shots).
Anyone for tennis?
Standing.
View down from 4th level to 3rd (final/exit). Nice. vantages available.
Gall stones.
Probably my favourite display. So you get 2 images.
Sections of a woman.
So here’s the section with reproduction, and it’s explicit. But that’s how it works. Stop here if it’s too much.
MRI scan of intercourse (colourised); according to audio guide.
When you run so fast you outrun your skeleton, you have run too damn fast.
Fetus with not-yet-ossified skeleton.
Knee replacement; frequent sequel of arthritis.
Hip fracture fixation.
Yoga pose showing ligaments.
Elegant pose here, so you get multiple views. I like the touch of having them looking into the hand-mirror.
von Hagen’s masterpiece? An epic display anyway. Check out what is going on here with various bits of anatomy!
There is a video at the end of the exhibit explaining the plastination procedure– it is very good. I learned a lot and was surprised by that. Halfway through in the section about why you really need to relax in this crazy modern world, there are comfy chairs and a bubbly Buddhist-ish fountain. I enjoyed that.
It is surreal to finish the exhibit and walk out into the human bustle of Piccadilly Circus right by the Eros statue. But, if this seems like your kind of thing and a £24.50 entry fee is do-able, do it. (Book in advance; I went at 2pm on a weekday and it was fairly empty)
What's In John's Freezer? 
On the often-brought-up topic of how ethical their sourcing of cadavers is, my
understanding from some reading some of the journalistic accounts published is that they’ve had to change how they get specimens. As infamy holds (and still haunts them today), they didn’t have much of a paper trail 10+ years ago and took specimens of some dubious ethics (e.g. unclaimed Chinese bodies; not donors; no consent; reportedly some Chinese criminals) but now 100% of exhibits are donors with consent, supposedly (but specimens anonymized). Interesting interview here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/bodyworlds-museum-dr-gunther-von-hagens-has-battled-legal-threats-parkinsons-disease-and-the-threat-10359135.html
There surely also is confusion with “Bodies Revealed”, a copycat exhibit, which still has ethics concerns AFAIK.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone that has up-to-date info on any investigations. They have been under a lot of pressure so one would assume they’ve cleaned up their act a lot and what I’ve read seems to support that.
[…] for the blog over the years, and the big London/Piccadilly Circus one became a must-see, so take a peek here. Then I had the joy of seeing a short-lived Ray Harryhausen exhibit in London. Childhood me would […]