Thursday, April 23, 2009

Naked, and even more...


You may have already been to this exhibition called "Our body" because it has already made it to a lot of American and European cities before Paris, where it is at the moment. Or should I say "was", as following to court order, they had to close it down today. Why? Because two associations pressed charges, on the grounds that dead bodies belong in cemeteries and not in exhibition halls. I can understand even though I do not share the same opinion. I went to see it in February when it opened and thought it was worth seeing. Have a look at their site, to get a better idea of their intentions.

45 comments:

  1. This is (was?) in NYC and it's absolutely fascinating (or really gross, depending on your point of view!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eric -- are all of the bodies Asians? They were here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If dead bodies always went straight to the cemetery, how would medical students learn anatomy? (My dad arranged that his body would go to a medical school when he died. That really impressed me.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I guess I'll have to hang various body parts on the crown tonight. Won't matter, no one else here anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alexa, yes all body are Chinese. And the big controversy is that they were never asked if they were OK being exhibited to the rest of the world after their death.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I heard about it and argued with a lot of people because it's a sensitive subject according to the different religions and societies.
    I don't share the same opinion though.
    "dead bodies belong cemeteries and not exhibition halls", it was the judge argument. It won't work legally speaking if they go before the Cour de Cassation...

    The other problem was that maybe the bodies were those of Chinese executed prisoners and were stolen, without the agreement of the deceased themselves...if so, I understand the decision. We just have to wait.

    If you want to know more (in English), take a look here
    http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/112/article_3545.asp

    I like the caption Eric. But...morbid mood? Are you alright? :p

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alexa, GF! Some bones on your crown? (Brrrr...)
    I admire what your father did. Really. I took my organ donor card 2 years ago but not sure I could "give" my entire body...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do recall seeing this item on the news or somewhere. I think it's great that medical students get to see all this (my son and I recently viewed a possible university for him where they have the fairly unusual (in the UK and non-medical school uni) licence to dissect human cadavres and very appreciative the university is). It's very important to actually see how it is. When the body has been studied and 'finished with' pardon the expression, the university holds a memoriam for the dead person.
    That said, not obtaining permission is a no-no in my view.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There was another exhibition in the USA called Body Worlds (that also included camels and horses). We got to meet Gunther von Hagens, the German scientist who developed the process of plastination during the opening weekend.

    My daughter asked how she could get involved with the company, and he told her that there is a ten year apprenticeship before even being considered for a position.

    In its favor, it sure makes you think about your nutrition, exercise, and general health patterns because some of the bodies were there to demonstrate the effects of poor habits.

    mammie

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's a shame that no one will get to see this. I saw the one version of this show in Toronto called "Body Works" I think. It was great though it was packed every day. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. There is something morbidly sensationalist about some of the exhibits (beware, the video is 29 minutes long) that would excite someone like a Doctor Mengele.

    Yet it was Paris, as well, where Modigliani’s exhibition of human bodies was shut down by the legal authorities. We scoff at that now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I would have like to see the exhibition. To me it is fascinating. If obtaining permission is the criteria for display, I imagine that quite a few wouldn't give a hoot and would be more than happy to have their corpse displayed. The body, once deceased, is merely a body. The soul should have long since departed! That said, I understand that in most cultures, not least with our indigenous Australians, respect for the dead involves dealing sensitively with the remains.
    It may seem macabre to some to wish to view the exhibit but to others it is simply fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I forgot to mention that I think I enjoy looking at Eric’s photo more than I would enjoy attending that exhibition. I love the mottled light and shadow; and the vividness of the different shades of red. Superb.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "The appropriate place for the corpse, according to the law, is the cemetery"?

    It has not always been so in Paris as we can see on page 88 and beyond to the top of page 94 here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I believe some of this show ended up in the rather recent version of CASINO ROYALE. Of course, a certain body with skin intact facinated me more.;-)

    Too bad the show closed down in a city where the human body is not found to be objectionable on sight.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I don't agree with the ruling.
    Not sure how I feel personally about going to the exhibit, but I disagree with the ruling.

    If there is an prior agreement from the deceased, and if procedures are done 1) scientifically, and 2) respectfully, then what's the problem? Let me guess... the real reason wouldn't start with an "Rel.." now, would it?

    ReplyDelete
  17. We had this exhibition here in Brasil for months. No problems, no prohibition.
    But I did not see it because, I must admit, I thought it was sort of disgusting.


    I read that it was forbidden in Venezuela by Chaves. You know, the president to whom King Juan Carlos of Spain said last year:

    ta gueule!

    ReplyDelete
  18. How about the French people on exhibition in the Catacombs!!!!! Take THAT les deux associations! How about the mummies in the Louvre? None of these people had a say in our viewing them!!! How about bones as relics in churches????

    And yes, Body World is the same thing that is showing in Paris. I saw it in London and still can't get the pregnant woman, and the horse i saw out of my mind. I thought it was facinatio=ng.

    ReplyDelete
  19. *facinating....and goodnight.

    ReplyDelete
  20. As an exhibit, I think it would be interesting, but part of me might be a little disturbed by the whole thing. I think if I knew the people had wanted this, it might be different, like those who have donated their body to science, but most of these people didn't have that choice from what I understand.
    I think that I would be heartbroken to find a family member there by accident. But that is just my opinion and I'm sure that there is much to be learned from all this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mr. PHX just reminded me that when Body World was shown in London, there was a huge controversy about it then.
    He also mentioned that they showed Daniel Craig going into the exhibition of Body Works in Miami in the movie Casino Royale.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Phx -- hey, don't hold back—tell us how you really feel! (And I agree with you 100%, btw.) It probably would have been better to have prior permission (from the deceased or their relatives), but it sounds like that wasn't really the issue here. So who were the two associations that had this exhibit shut down?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Well, I just watched a good part of that video (thanks Tall Gary) and I would definitely go check it out. Court order, my foot!! Grrr.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Monica: you must be talking about the same President who dissed Bush copiously not too long ago. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  25. What is it with Presidents, these days? Ta gueule? Casse-toi, pauvre con? Tsk, tsk, tsk...

    ReplyDelete
  26. I actually saw this exhibition when it was in Copenhagen. Very fascinating and controversial. We had the same debates here, but it wasn't closed down.

    But that we experienced some years ago with two other exhibitions.
    The one was dead pigs in glass showcases ( the smell was terrible) and the other one was goldfish in blenders with a sign saying "Do you dare push the botton ?" Some did and then they closed the whole thing.
    But when it comes to dead Chinese bodies the Danes can, apparently, cope with it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Eh ben dis-moi Eric, t'étais décidément très "viande" en ce 23/04 !

    ReplyDelete
  28. It is fascinating. When you think of it, two bodies are pretty the same, specially at the inside. And each human is unique though. A question of soul maybe ?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Are there no mummies in the museum? Heck, most of our politicians are dead even though they're still walking.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Tomate, yes, same president.


    Presidents are getting carried away these days, but I confess I enjoyed King Juan Carlos's attitude, it just felt like something everybody wanted to say to him (the president in question) for a long time. And it sounds so cool in spanish:

    Por que no te callas!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I did not see this show when it was here because I think it's creepy. However, I don't think it is inherently bad. There was a question about permission to use the corpses, but it seemed like this was not considered important. That bothered me. I think it is good that the discussion is going on, and maybe the courts are the right place for the question to be discussed completely.

    ReplyDelete
  32. ^ Monica: In English it becomes "why don't you shut up!" Good words to know, lol!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Body World is a kind of human taxidermy performed by a mad artist who is less concerned with scientific education than with expressing a kind of macabre creativity. A mad artist who, as little more than a body snatcher of executed criminals, simply enjoys playing around with dead bodies as an artistic medium.

    Salvador Dali dabbled a bit himself in a like creativity but not with unwilling corpses.

    Let me ask a question. If, in the future, the market for this kind of exhibition began to dry up with over saturation, and the artist’s collective that creates them sought for ways to once again connect in a shocking way with a jaded public and therefore decided to create an exhibition on the diversity of human sexual activity would you still donate your body, not knowing if, or in what way you would be posed, for all eternity, with a man, woman, child, sheep, mule; or with someone who also donated their corpse if that someone just happened to be the one person in the world you wouldn’t want to be caught dead with?

    ReplyDelete
  34. hmmmm... don't know about that Tall Gary. Again, it goes to the question of permission. Would you donate your body knowing that it may be used for *anything* I suppose is the question you are really asking.

    When I was younger I had the "organ donor" checked on my drivers' license. Somehow it got dropped, and I haven't decided what to do about that. Maybe because I have a lot of questions of a ahem... "spiritual nature" these days (Gosh, I hate to use the "R" word!).

    ReplyDelete
  35. Well if you support capital punishment, not to mention of possibly innocent people (I understand the Chinese also kill prisoners to harvest their organs), then I feel scared.

    ReplyDelete
  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  37. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Body World Isn’t science. It is a business. A business that is closer to art or entertainment. People are paying admission to these exhibits? Into whose pockets is that money going? How far are they willing to go to keep that money coming in?

    I guess my question might really be, “Would you donate your body to this guy knowing that for commercial and self-aggrandizing reasons he is willing and eager to use it as his personal art medium and rip it apart, re-assemble it and pose it for eternity in any way that catches his whim, or in any way he hopes will catch the public’s eye?” And who can know what the future may bring?

    You may not even be asked to donate your body as this guy’s plasticine. You could die homeless and without family and he might pick up your remains as just another unclaimed body to play with. As basically, he has already done with others.

    How well do you know this guy that you would be willing to support him so after your death?

    If you are not, in actuality, willing to support him yourself, why should anyone?

    2:22 AM

    ReplyDelete
  39. Tomate: right!

    And it's always handy to know it in several different languages ;)

    ReplyDelete
  40. I saw this amazing, truly AMAZING exhibition in London about 8 years ago with my daughter who was then about 4. There were some memorable moments when she pointed at one of the exhibits penis and asked loudly - Daddy, what's that? - in the middle of a crowd of visitors and I had to explain it, and yes, it wasn't the same as mine, etc...!

    To ban this stunning exhibition, after many years of touring the world, in a city like Paris, is ludicrous. It's too late now in any case so why deprive Paris of this eye-opener? I think that many of the 'participants' all died of nasty diseases and wanted the rest of humanity to get an idea of what smoking, for example, can do you to.

    Well, I haven't seen it in Paris yet, and it looks like I never will. Never mind.

    ReplyDelete
  41. There was controversy in New York City, as well, with regard to this Exhibit.(Is it the same one, I'm not sure...but it looks like it might be) The question was "Where were these bodies from?" There was a rumor that they were the bodies of former chinese prisoners and that permission was not given by them, or anyone else for that matter, to be used in this manner. Still, the exhibit was VERY popular in NYC and remained there for several years

    ReplyDelete
  42. Public spectacles in the Roman Colosseum were popular.

    “Hey, why stop at the dead? Let’s flay and dismember a few living death-row criminals and charge admission. That should be popular,” he says, not at all sure that his sarcasm will be understood—public taste being what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I saw a similar exhibit (Body Worlds as mentioned previously) when it was here in the USA in Denver. It was fascinating. You can't tell who the people are, so even if your uncle had donated his body to be a part of the exhibit you wouldn't have known. There was only one body which had the smallest part of a tattoo still visible, but other than that it was pure science on display. It obviously isn't an exhibit for the faint of heart, but it was packed every day it was in Denver and people loved it.

    Bodies don't belong only in cemeteries. People choose to donate their bodies to science all the time. How else will we learn? I wouldn't want a PhD student learning surgical techniques on a live person :)

    ReplyDelete
  44. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete