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Story by Jack Foley |
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ART enthusiasts with a strong stomach should be attracted to a controversial
new exhibition in Brick Lane which features human corpses.
Entitled Body Worlds, the exhibition will feature 175 healthy and diseased
body parts and 25 whole bodies, including that of a pregnant woman with her
womb exposed to reveal a seven-month old foetus.
It was given the go-ahead by the government after it decided that it was not
breaking the law and will open on March 23 at Atlantis Gallery at the Old
Truman Brewery, running until September 29.
Other exhibits include a man who has been entirely skinned, with his skull
cut away to reveal his brain, leaning forward over a chessboard.
The event is the brainchild (sorry!) of Professor Gunther von Hagens, who
uses a process called plastination - which he has spent 25 years developing
in Heidelberg, Germany.
Fluids in the body are drained and exchanged with a type of plastic, giving
the bodies a high degree of rigidity which means they can be displayed in
life-like poses.
All
of the featured corpses have been donated, many by people who have visited
the exhibition, but they continue to create controversy, with many objectors
describing it as 'insensitive' and 'designed to shock'.
Prof von Hagens maintains that his work is an opportunity for people to understand
more about the human body. But his comments did not prevent the Government
from scrutinising the 1984 Anatomy Act and the 1998 Human Rights Act to see
if it complied.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said that the legal position was not clear
cut enough for it to raise any objection.
The Body Worlds Exhibition can be viewed from 9am to 9pm and tickets cost
£10 (conc £8). The Atlantis Gallery at the Old Truman Brewery
is located at 146 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL. Nearest Tube: Liverpool Street
Info line: 020 7053 000