-Something to See about You and Me
Until we entered the cordoned "Pre-Natal" area (after reading the requisite warnings concerning entry of sensitive viewers and children, of course), my mind and feelings were blurry. I'd stopped listening to the audio guide soon after stepping into the first of four partitioned gallery rooms. It seemed a bother to hold the foot-long listening device to my ear.
The smarmy male voice sharing information had flowed straight through my head, leaving nothing behind. I wandered from display to display among the local politicians and wealthy folk, ignoring the Galen and Harvey quotes on the wall. Any flow the curator intended was lost on me as I bounced from full-body cross-section to skull, from spine and leg-bone to diseased kidney and lungs.
Before entering we listened, though with difficulty due to the sound system and environment, to the introductions offered by the mayors of both our county and the city of Orlando. The mayor of Winter Park was present, as well. Local talk-radio bad boy Shannon Burke was in attendance, but we didn't see him and his goofy leather jacket until we got inside. I felt out of place as I watched people eyes slide over my face and paste-on name tag, then keep on going, not finding anything to stop for in my name or face. We sort of snuck our invitations to the event, so in truth, we really didn't belong, but it saved us $25 each.
As the speakers thanked all the right people, Sheryl spoke to a man she thought looked sort of famous--he denied any notoriety, but as it turned out, he was Jim Merila, the man on the ground for the group producing the exhibit, The Universe Within Touring Company, LLC . He shared with us that his company was among several now touring the country with plasticized Chinese bodies. It seems some of his old friends from his TV work recruited him to work the bodies exhibit. He is off to Detroit on the close of the Orlando show.
Jim proved an engaging and candid host, answering questions about his background and life with minor hesitation to allow for bites of hummus and bread from the hors d'oeuvres tables. To a pointed question about the ethical implications surrounding both the source and uses of the bodies in the exhibit, Jim equivocated. I shared the concern of a friend who refuses to attend based on the somewhat dubious provenance of the bodies. His reaction to my query betrayed a hopeful and presumed innocence. Since the bodies (and their intended use) had passed the "smell test" with Chinese and U.S. authorities, as well as with hosting institution administrations like the Orlando Science Center's, surely all must be well!
Beyond the easily identified fallacy of his argument (consider the fabled students graduating high school and unable to read--all those teachers let them through, so everything must be okay, right?!), Jim's response failed to address the underlying concern raised: Was it possible these folks had once been political prisoners whose deaths were hastened by an oppressive regime not known for its respect for basic human rights? True, I didn't let that potential stop me from attending, but it's a valid question. The website for the Universe Within Touring Company reassures us that the bodies ("specimens"), "have been provided for the exhibit consistent with the laws of China". I have no idea what that means, but even with the polymerization, something's smelling rotten in Orlando.
Jiim's eagerness to emphasize the respect and care with which the specimens (bodies) are shown seemed sincere--he shared that the producers debated whether one seated display body should have a book or magazine in front of it on a table. The company decided to leave that body with nothing to read, for reasons of decorum, Jim suggested. The exhibitors didn't want to cheapen the experience or provoke inappropriate responses in vieweres.
Other bodies, such as one bouncing a basketball and another wound up to hurl a discus, were apparently exempted from that particular smell test. The study guide available for teachers at the website underlines the effort to display the bodies in an "artful, compelling and dignified" way. I guess what I came to realize in the pre-natal section is that, among the cross-sectioned cadavers and disembodied limbs, I personally found neither art, nor dignity. Compelling, perhaps, but why?
There is certainly a case for bodies dismembered by cross-section being regarded as art, and I must admit, my gee-whiz reaction to some of the displays speaks to the compelling nature of what I was seeing. There is something to be said for a body (specimen) sliced up like a loaf of bread, with several inches separating each upright piece, all held in place by a clear plastic separators, sprawling across 40 feet of gallery space. It was impossible not to think of Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, stretching even in death. Compelling, okay, art, maybe, but educational? Well . . .
After we left, I asked my companions if they'd learned anything. I hadn't, and the best response I got was that the aorta is a lot bigger than she'd thought it was. But really, there was nothing on display that couldn't be seen in a copy of Grey's Anatomy (book, not TV show). We'd all neglected the audio portion of the exhibit, and I didn't see a single person reading the wall postings detailing the historical/artistic development and use of anatomical knowledge. As much as they tried to coat this (side)show with a veneer of learning, that's not what sells tickets, and the exhibit is, first and foremost, a business venture.
Be careful scrolling down from here--that's a much shorter warning than the one before the exhibit's pre-natal section--you've been warned. I searched for and found this picture to give you a sense of what's displayed in that area. I couldn't find the one with the conjoined twins, but here goes--scroll down only carefully and after considering it . . . really.
Sheryl wondered how I found this picture. I didn't, actually, get it from the show's website. What I did was search Google Images using the term "pickled punk". That's a carny term for a fetus in formaldehyde. It looked the same to Sheryl, and it looks the same to me as what we saw displayed. It sure brought in the rubes that night.
P.T. Barnum had a "museum" where he displayed microcephalics as pinheads, dwarves as nobility and fabricated creatures as mermaids. It made him very wealthy, but something very different than a scholar or teacher. You can plasticize it, call it a "specimen", put it under muted lighting with a vague, New Age-y soundtrack lilting from unseen speakers. Then say it's dignified, educational even, but that doesn't change anything about what it actually is. Not at all.
The smarmy male voice sharing information had flowed straight through my head, leaving nothing behind. I wandered from display to display among the local politicians and wealthy folk, ignoring the Galen and Harvey quotes on the wall. Any flow the curator intended was lost on me as I bounced from full-body cross-section to skull, from spine and leg-bone to diseased kidney and lungs.
Before entering we listened, though with difficulty due to the sound system and environment, to the introductions offered by the mayors of both our county and the city of Orlando. The mayor of Winter Park was present, as well. Local talk-radio bad boy Shannon Burke was in attendance, but we didn't see him and his goofy leather jacket until we got inside. I felt out of place as I watched people eyes slide over my face and paste-on name tag, then keep on going, not finding anything to stop for in my name or face. We sort of snuck our invitations to the event, so in truth, we really didn't belong, but it saved us $25 each.
As the speakers thanked all the right people, Sheryl spoke to a man she thought looked sort of famous--he denied any notoriety, but as it turned out, he was Jim Merila, the man on the ground for the group producing the exhibit, The Universe Within Touring Company, LLC . He shared with us that his company was among several now touring the country with plasticized Chinese bodies. It seems some of his old friends from his TV work recruited him to work the bodies exhibit. He is off to Detroit on the close of the Orlando show.
Jim proved an engaging and candid host, answering questions about his background and life with minor hesitation to allow for bites of hummus and bread from the hors d'oeuvres tables. To a pointed question about the ethical implications surrounding both the source and uses of the bodies in the exhibit, Jim equivocated. I shared the concern of a friend who refuses to attend based on the somewhat dubious provenance of the bodies. His reaction to my query betrayed a hopeful and presumed innocence. Since the bodies (and their intended use) had passed the "smell test" with Chinese and U.S. authorities, as well as with hosting institution administrations like the Orlando Science Center's, surely all must be well!
Beyond the easily identified fallacy of his argument (consider the fabled students graduating high school and unable to read--all those teachers let them through, so everything must be okay, right?!), Jim's response failed to address the underlying concern raised: Was it possible these folks had once been political prisoners whose deaths were hastened by an oppressive regime not known for its respect for basic human rights? True, I didn't let that potential stop me from attending, but it's a valid question. The website for the Universe Within Touring Company reassures us that the bodies ("specimens"), "have been provided for the exhibit consistent with the laws of China". I have no idea what that means, but even with the polymerization, something's smelling rotten in Orlando.
Jiim's eagerness to emphasize the respect and care with which the specimens (bodies) are shown seemed sincere--he shared that the producers debated whether one seated display body should have a book or magazine in front of it on a table. The company decided to leave that body with nothing to read, for reasons of decorum, Jim suggested. The exhibitors didn't want to cheapen the experience or provoke inappropriate responses in vieweres.
Other bodies, such as one bouncing a basketball and another wound up to hurl a discus, were apparently exempted from that particular smell test. The study guide available for teachers at the website underlines the effort to display the bodies in an "artful, compelling and dignified" way. I guess what I came to realize in the pre-natal section is that, among the cross-sectioned cadavers and disembodied limbs, I personally found neither art, nor dignity. Compelling, perhaps, but why?
There is certainly a case for bodies dismembered by cross-section being regarded as art, and I must admit, my gee-whiz reaction to some of the displays speaks to the compelling nature of what I was seeing. There is something to be said for a body (specimen) sliced up like a loaf of bread, with several inches separating each upright piece, all held in place by a clear plastic separators, sprawling across 40 feet of gallery space. It was impossible not to think of Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, stretching even in death. Compelling, okay, art, maybe, but educational? Well . . .
After we left, I asked my companions if they'd learned anything. I hadn't, and the best response I got was that the aorta is a lot bigger than she'd thought it was. But really, there was nothing on display that couldn't be seen in a copy of Grey's Anatomy (book, not TV show). We'd all neglected the audio portion of the exhibit, and I didn't see a single person reading the wall postings detailing the historical/artistic development and use of anatomical knowledge. As much as they tried to coat this (side)show with a veneer of learning, that's not what sells tickets, and the exhibit is, first and foremost, a business venture.
Be careful scrolling down from here--that's a much shorter warning than the one before the exhibit's pre-natal section--you've been warned. I searched for and found this picture to give you a sense of what's displayed in that area. I couldn't find the one with the conjoined twins, but here goes--scroll down only carefully and after considering it . . . really.
Sheryl wondered how I found this picture. I didn't, actually, get it from the show's website. What I did was search Google Images using the term "pickled punk". That's a carny term for a fetus in formaldehyde. It looked the same to Sheryl, and it looks the same to me as what we saw displayed. It sure brought in the rubes that night.P.T. Barnum had a "museum" where he displayed microcephalics as pinheads, dwarves as nobility and fabricated creatures as mermaids. It made him very wealthy, but something very different than a scholar or teacher. You can plasticize it, call it a "specimen", put it under muted lighting with a vague, New Age-y soundtrack lilting from unseen speakers. Then say it's dignified, educational even, but that doesn't change anything about what it actually is. Not at all.
Labels: bodies exhibit
posted by Tom Morton at 12/05/2006 07:52:00 PM
1 comments
