On Wednesday, the Anchorage Museum announced an exhibit that might seem more at home among the oddities of Ripley's Believe it or Not! instead of an art museum. "Body Worlds Vital," an exhibit that teaches about human anatomy by displaying real human bodies preserved through a special process called plastination, will make its way to Alaska in September 2012.
"This is one of the most in-demand traveling exhibitions in the world, and we're incredibly excited to bring it to Anchorage," James Pepper Henry, Anchorage Museum director, said in a press release announcing the exhibit. "It's an important part of our mission to make top-tier touring exhibitions accessible to Alaskans."
"Body Worlds" exhibits have been touring in the U.S. since 2005, and aim to teach about human anatomy by displaying preserved human remains, from whole bodies to individual organs. "Body Worlds Vital" is but one of seven various Body Worlds exhibits touring the world, as well as knock-offs like the exhibit "Bodies," on display at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.
The "Body Worlds" exhibits are the brainchild of Gunther Von Hagens, who invented the method of plastination, a technique of removing water and fats from human tissue and replacing them with the solvent acetone, which quickly evaporates in a vacuum chamber, allowing a polymer to replace the liquid, "plasticizing" the tissue. Gunther patented his technique between the years of 1977 and 1982, according to his account of the discovery of the plastination process.
"When, as an anatomy assistant, I saw my first specimen embedded in a polymer block, I wondered why the polymer had been poured around the outside of the specimen as having the polymer within the specimen would stabilize it from the inside out," Von Hagens recalls on the "Body Worlds" website. "I could not get this question out of my mind."
The exhibit toured around Europe and Asia from the mid-1990s until 2004, when the California Science Center became interested in the display. In order to assuage concerns about the source of the bodies used in the exhibit and to ensure that the work of preserving the bodies was conducted ethically, a study was conducted by the center.
Body donations had been volitional, knowingly and with full disclosure, the science center study concluded, and all aspects of the exhibit were proper under German law -- Von Hagen's home country.
The study also suggested guidelines for displaying the exhibit in America that would make it easier for viewers to understand the nature of the exhibit and the reality of the bodies.
The "Body Worlds" exhibits have been displayed everywhere from Japan and Turkey to Zurich and Vancouver. In the U.S., exhibits have been staged in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, among many other U.S. cities. Anchorage will be only the third-ever stop for the "Body Worlds Vital" exhibit, following stints in San Jose, Calif. and Des Moines, Iowa.
The exhibit will be on display from Sept. 28, 2012 - Jan. 6, 2013.
Contact Ben Anderson at ben(at)alaskadispatch.com