For several years, exhibits of preserved human bodies have been popular draws.
Gunther von Hagen originated the concept and his "Bodyworlds" exhibits are the most extensive, although I think there are others who are also engaged in this business.
We discussed this a few times. Bodyworlds is an moral minefield and it was always pretty clear to me that the whole business was exploitive and ultimately disrespectful, and believe me, being in the presence of my husband's corpse has only confirmed that conviction, deepened it, and glued it into place.
Anyway, Gunther has taken things to the next level. Wesley Smith reports:
Decadence is all around us, of course, indeed so ubiquitous and varied that I usually leave these stories alone. But this one, I think, hits squarely on the concept of human dignity and its ongoing subversion. An "artist" in Germany has created a display of cadavers "copulating." From the story:
A new exhibition featuring preserved dead bodies having sex opened in Berlin Berlin on Thursday with critics saying a maverick German anatomist dubbed "Doctor Death" has gone too far this time.No he hasn't: Why would anyone think there is such thing as "too far" anymore?The couple, part of Gunther von Hagens's exhibition "The Cycle of Life", is the "low point in his tastelessness", Michael Braun, culture expert from the conservative CDU party told AFP. Von Hagens said his copulating couples show the sexual act in "bracing clarity".Ah, the elevated vision of the artiste:The exhibition "offers a deep understanding of the human body, the biology of reproduction, and the nature of sexuality".No, it's just cadaver porn.Van Hagens is no stranger to controversy and his many critics accuse him of deliberately shocking people in order to gain publicity, rather than furthering science as he claims.Ya think?Three years ago he opened a factory-cum-museum in eastern Germany manufacturing "plastinated" sections of cadavers to supply researchers and medical students and charging visitors to watch the process. "I am firmly convinced that he just breaks taboos again and again in order to make money," Kai Wegner, another CDU lawmaker, told AFP. "It is not about medicine or scientific progress. It is marketing and money-making pure and simple."
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
I saw the Bodyworlds exhibition this past summer.
As I went from one display case to another I was in awe of how it says in Scripture that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It raised my heart to God in thanksgiving. I wanted to cry good kinds of tears. Maybe I'm odd. My husband certainly didn't have that response. Nor did my youngest son (he's 21).
Lots of angles to challenge my gut reaction of utter disgust on this one. That said...
The reason for dead bodies being taboo for OT priests to touch almost certainly goes beyond the obvious (disease), extending to other dimensions of corruption and infection of *spirit* as well. Like porn, these displays make a permanent imprint on the imagination. Satan must love having that kind of horror slide-show so vividly accessible in so many minds long after they leave the exhibit. Hope's worshipful reaction ("fearfully and wonderfully made") is inspiring but, I would venture, atypical.
It's also interesting to observe how 'education', in our culture, serves as the ultimate trump card justification. Like Cindy, I have almost gone a few times but not followed through. Educated about what? To what end? For what purpose? In what context? ...all seem like reasonable questions to ask.
It's probably not educationally useful for everyone compared to the alternatives and to the risk of it soaking into one's mind the wrong way. Doctors can and should do things that would be crimes in a different context. Some things are meant to be mysteries, available only to a few (e.g., mortician, doctor, spouse, etc.)
As with the rest of life, much seems to turn on one's state of mind going into BodyWorld and how focused one is on the uncorrupted One who made it all possible. This German freak-show is a whole 'nuther thing that just makes me want to puke. We should pray for his soul.
"It's also interesting to observe how 'education', in our culture, serves as the ultimate trump card justification."
Yes. What never seems to strike people is that, as education goes, we do not just "learn" stuff. The *way* we learn is also *what* we learn.
What's interesting also is that the Chruch does not offer - at least to the extent of my knowledge - any "reason" to justify displaying the bodies, or bones, of the blessed. She does not say, "The reason we do this is becasue it deepens our understanding of the resurrection in Jesus", or any practically utilitarian reason - though of course that may well be one of the side benefits.
It has everything to do with the Incarnation. And that's not just some reason, or justification. Do people go to Body Worlds and touch items, such as rose petals, onto the corpses while praying? Do they make processions with the cadavers, invoking God? The display of the dead in the Church operates under the general supposition that those of her members who come from around to visit the relics in a shrine are part of the family and are welcome past her walls, and those who are not one of those members and who come from around to visit a shrine are like members that have not yet been fully joined into the family, which is to say, that they are, in a sense, part of the family - if potentially. Thus, all displays of the dead are, ideally, within family viewing. This is vastly different from the sense of carnival curiositas - together with an unprecedented reformulation, reconfiguration of Man, represented under all-knowing sterile lights - that makes up the show Body Worlds.
It's like the difference between The Suicide and The Martyr that G.K.C. unravels in Orthodoxy. Superficially similiar; but really, world's apart.
As to mummies, the obvious thing to do as one passes one on display in a museum is... say a prayer for the repose of that person's soul. It is never too late -- our prayer will be heard by God in eternity.
Sorry, but my English is not very good. This exhibition has been prohibited in Paris. Some associations have lodge a complaint and The 21 april, a judge from the Tribunal de grande instance-Louis-Marie Raingeard - prohibited this exbhibition : « The place reserved by the law to a dead body is the cimetery. The marketing of Dead bodies by the means of an exhibition is a breach of the respect due to them ». The court has strengthen the judgement of Mr Louis-Marie Ringeard, saying that there was a doubt about the bodie’s origin which could be fraudulous.
Perhaps somebody will be able to translate this article from Le Figaro :
www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2009/04/30/01011-20090430FILWWW00378-our-body-fermeture-confirmee.php
La cour d'appel de Paris a confirmé aujourd'hui l'interdiction de l'exposition anatomique "Our Body, à corps ouvert", qui présente à Paris de vrais cadavres humains. Alors qu'en première instance le juge des référés avait motivé son interdiction par le manque de décence de l'exposition, le premier président de la cour d'appel, Jean-Claude Magendie, s'est appuyé sur le doute entourant l'origine des corps.
"La société « Encore Events » (organisatrice de l'exposition, ndlr) ne rapporte pas la preuve, qui lui incombe, de l'origine licite et non frauduleuse des corps litigieux et de l'existence de consentements autorisés", est-il indiqué dans la décision de la cour d'appel.
Le 21 avril, le juge des référés du TGI de Paris, Louis-Marie Raingeard, avait ordonné la fermeture de l'exposition présentée à l'Espace 12 Madeleine. Une décision inédite. Déjà présentée à l'étranger, ainsi qu'à Lyon et à Marseille, la manifestation avait fermé ses portes le soir du 22 avril.
Le magistrat considérait d'une part que les cadavres avaient leur place au cimetière et d'autre part que la mise en scène des corps était contraire à la décence.
Pascal Bernardin, le gérant de la société « Encore Events », organisateur de la manifestation, avait interjeté appel.
Lors de l'audience d'appel, le ministère public avait implicitement demandé la confirmation de l'interdiction.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.