Bodies the Exhibition Tickets

Bodies the Exhibition
Initiated in Tampa, Florida on August 20th, 2005 - BODIES - The Exhibition is an arguable display of dismembered preserved human bodies in order to show body systems and functions. Though it is parallel to the exhibition Body Worlds (which commenced in 1995) yet not affiliated with it. BODIES, is at present showing in Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Cincinnati, Branson, Columbus, Prague, Lisbon, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Las Vegas, New York, Fort Lauderdale and Washington D.C.

The museum has been set up in a way that one begins with watching the apparent skeletal system along with the detailed layers. It is followed by the functions of other parts such as muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, urinary and reproductive systems; as well as fetal development and the treated body.

Organized by the publicly traded corporation - Premier Exhibitions Incorporated (ticker symbol: PRXI), each exhibition displays about twenty real human bodies that have been preserved enduringly by a process called polymer preservation. Premier Exhibitions Inc. also arranged Bodies Revealed in Seoul, South Korea.

The Chinese government contributed carcasses for research, as all the bodies at the time of death purportedly had no close relative or immediate families to solicit the bodies. All of the dissection was held at the Dalian University in Liaoning, China and the resulting specimens were leased to Premier Exhibitions for the five-year time-period of the show.

Some of the deceased bodies have been structured to show the functions of different organs while in an activity such as playing basketball or performing in an orchestra next to which, are the displays showing a human intestine stretched out, the polluted lung of a smoker and all of the arteries and veins without the body itself. A sub-division of the same area consists of some fetuses in different stages of development. All of the fetuses are said to have died due to miscarriages and the disorders, which caused each, are highlighted.

Suspicions with regard to the origin of the bodies persist until now. David Barboza - reporting from Dalian, China for the N.Y Times, expresses a ghastly new underground mini-industry with little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs.

Premier Exhibitions Inc. representatives candidly disclose the bodies are not donated. State Anatomical boards have raised objections that without state or federal laws you have no documentation of who this is. The Director of North Carolina State Board of Funeral Services acknowledged, Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents. That's a reasonable standard to apply. The Florida Anatomical board conflicted with the Tampa exhibit, with their director protesting to shut down the exhibition. The Florida Attorney General agreed the State Anatomical board's authorization should be a requisite for any such exhibition. The exhibit at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry opened two days before time.

When the sealed carcasses began leaking the San Francisco Health Inspectors became alarmed and the Chinese American groups there voiced their disapproval. City Supervisor Fiona Ma, stated; Chinese culture is very religious and superstitious regarding death and the display of dead bodies and later introduced a San Francisco ordinance on corpse exhibits. After demonstrations in Seattle to ban display of bodies without clear documentation of approval, a bill is under consideration of the Washington State.

In Pittsburgh, Elaine Catz gave up her job as science education coordinator for the Carnegie Museum of Science. Out of the total of eleven years of employment affiliation with them, she had spent two years of professional scientific research into body's exhibits that ultimately made her quit her job.

Also among the protestors are Professional ethicists, Human Rights activists and religious leaders. Sharon Hom, the Executive Director of the Advocacy Group Human Rights in China said, Given the (Chinese) government's track record on the treatment of prisoners, I find this exhibit deeply problematic. Professor Anita Allen, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, argued spending to gawk at human remains should raise serious apprehension. Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University ethicist, relates cadaver presentation to pornography in which they reduce the subject to the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance.

Rabbi Danny Schiff insists that even if permission was to be obtained, that we should still abstain from providing the deceased to be put on display as he stated, bodies arranged in showcases for a hungry public. Harry Wu, long time human rights activist who spent 19 years in prison for his role in Tiannamen Square, expresses the practice of getting exhibit specimens from China is immoral and also explains how the Chinese label of unclaimed on bodies might mean that families were not informed of the death.

Rabbi Daniel Isaak argued the value regarding the educational concerns around these exhibits, in Portland. North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction would not advise this material for school field trips. Raymond Burke, St. Louis Diocese Archbishop directs Catholic Schools there to keep away from field trips to such exhibitions, raising some serious queries for Catholics. Abbotsford, British Columbia School Superintendent banned field trips to exhibits of plasticized human beings with a concern on how 'some kids process' these 'graphic' images.

Rev. Christoph Reiners raises a concern regarding the effects on the morals and ethics of children. Elaine Catz, who helped coordinate field trips for the Carnegie Science Center, insists; It teaches that, once he is deceased, there is nothing wrong with taking a person's body without his consent. It teaches that there is nothing wrong with exploiting the dead in order to make a profit, as long as it is in the name of science or education or art. It teaches that it is incredibly easy to dehumanize others.