Published: July 21, 2009 02:17 pm      

LIFESTYLE: 'Body Worlds' challenges the mind, heart

Buffalo — The “Body Worlds” exhibit was created as a vehicle for science, but it has stirred up emotions of a far different sort in pretty much every city that it’s visited.

Religious people and others who contend that the human body should be revered contend that the exhibit — which shows “plastinated” corpses in various poses with different bodily systems exposed — is blatantly disrespectful. Where the creators claim science, these people say, there is only art, a vision of posture that only results in the exploitation of the dead.

Other people take issue with how the plastinates are posed — men generally take athletic and/or heroic poses, these critics contend, while women tend to take more passive positions that perpetuate beauty.

And then there are those people without a specific moral objection to the exhibit who are left with a queasy feeling upon pondering the concept of skinned people being dissected and displayed. Death is scary, after all, and no one likes a refresher course on mortality.

That’s how I felt when I walked into the exhibit, which runs through October at the Buffalo Museum of Science.

When I walked out, any fear I had was replaced by awe. Apprehension made way for appreciation. There, in the exhibit hall, lied proof that science is beautiful.

That’s not to say that “Body Worlds” lacks for shock value. No amount of preparation can adequately get you ready for that first interaction with a plastinate — many of which aren’t encased in any way. To get close enough to one of these creations for him or her to feel your breath — if he or she could still feel — is an experience as liberating as it is unsettling.

Visitors will find dozens of plastinates in various poses, each of which acts to display a different bodily system or function (muscle movement during exercise, for example, or the complete layout of the digestive system). Also on display are a handful of similarly treated animals, as well as numerous body parts in various stages of disease — a healthy lung placed next to a smoker’s lung, or a normal knee side-by-side with an arthritic joint.

There, in part, is where the scientific mission of “Body Worlds” comes into play. Overweight people know that they should combat their poor health habits, but many of them tend to tune such talk out. Much harder to tune out is the slice of an obese man on display that details just how much excess fat was carried by the 300-pound-man, as well as all the decay to his organs that the condition caused.

And if I’d had access to such an exhibit during my biology days, I might have actually paid a bit of attention to that lecture about the chambers of the heart. For that reason alone, this exhibit should be required viewing for all area middle and high school students once school resumes in September.

Several teenagers who were at the exhibit when I went seemed to handle the blunt reality of what they were seeing with ease. This exhibit is not, however, for younger children, whether it be because of the nature of what’s on display or the anatomical correctness of the plastinates (which certainly caught this viewer off-guard).

There’s also one room which I considered skipping completely. This room showed fetuses in various stages of development, from conception until near-birth. I almost vacated the room as soon as I realized what was in the room, but I ended up taking it all in. The display was educational and fairly interesting, but as the parent of two young children I was disturbed by the thought of what boils down to dead babies in a row.

Ultimately, though, such details are necessary because they represent the factuality of the exhibit — these are real people who donated their bodies to what they believed to be a higher cause, and removing anything for fear of offending someone would be criminally disingenuous. For “Body Works” to work, it needs to be as candid as it is. Anything less would rob viewers of the lasting impact of the show.

Spending hours in this exhibit is easy; I had to rush myself through the final few displays for lack of time. Audio guides are available for an additional fee; I found the guide valuable with some displays, but its use on every display would make your time there drag after a while.

As uneasy as you might feel when you walk in, you can’t help but be overcome with an enlightened sensation by the time you leave. “Body Worlds” makes you think, feel and act in ways that will probably be new to you. In that regard, it exceeds even the loftiest goals of every scientific exhibit.

You might still be unsure about going to the exhibit. Don’t be. “Body Worlds” does the public a favor that can’t be had anywhere else. This knowledge truly is empowering.

Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.



IF YOU GO

• WHAT: “Body Worlds & the Story of the Heart”

• WHEN: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 4

• WHERE: Buffalo Museum of Science, 1020 Humboldt Parkway, Buffalo

• MORE INFORMATION: Call (877) 687-3359 or visit sciencebuff.org