Since February of 2008, the Cincinnati Museum Center has played host to Premier Exhibitions Incorporated’s controversial “BODIES… the Exhibition.” For those unfamiliar with the exhibit, “BODIES” presents a series of actual human bodies, preserved by a rubberization process known as plastination, which have been dissected and posed in a variety of ways. The result is a one of a kind anatomy and physiology lesson… which would be fine if there weren’t so many questions about who these “BODIES” were and where they came from.
The problem is, for a bunch of cadavers, these bodies all look pretty damn healthy. That leads to the question… how exactly did they meet their end and where exactly did they come from? The answer? Chinese prisons, of course. According to the exhibitions’ website, “This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.” It’s not unreasonable to think that most of the people put on display within “BODIES… the Exhibition” probably did not formally donate their bodies to science, nor did they agree to have their cadavers desecrated, dissected, playfully posed and then placed on public display. There’s certainly no paperwork to back anything up.
It’s nice to know that Cincinnati was prepared to lynch Robert Mapplethorpe while his photographic exhibit, The Perfect Moment, was on display. Let me see if I understand this. Consenting adults exploring sexuality and the human form is inappropriate for public exhibition. When political prisoners are executed, mutilated and put on display, though, no one seems to mind. What the fuck, Cincinnati?
“BODIES.. the Exhibition” runs through September 1, 2008.
3 responses so far ↓
tampa cts decon // July 22, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I agree that the bodies exhibit needs to be under more scrutiny… not all of them are from China though, I heard that just some are, some were really donated
Kamandi Curt // July 23, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Thanks for commenting. I have to point out, though, that all of the bodies in this exhibition DO come from China. There’s no debate over this issue, and Premier Exhibitions Incorporated has always stated this to be the case.
If you need proof, look no farther than the exhibit’s website. I quoted the site in the body of my post, but feel free to visit it yourself:
http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/
Again, here’s the disclaimer, pulled directly from the website:
Disclaimer:
-This exhibit displays human remains of Chinese citizens or residents which were originally received by the Chinese Bureau of Police. The Chinese Bureau of Police may receive bodies from Chinese prisons. Premier cannot independently verify that the human remains you are viewing are not those of persons who were incarcerated in Chinese prisons.
-This exhibit displays full body cadavers as well as human body parts, organs, fetuses and embryos that come from cadavers of Chinese citizens or residents. With respect to the human parts, organs, fetuses and embryos you are viewing, Premier relies solely on the representations of its Chinese partners and cannot independently verify that they do not belong to persons executed while incarcerated in Chinese prisons.
Murt // July 23, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I’ll throw my two cents in here too:
So, if Cincinnati is known to be almost completely made up of a conservative Christian population, how do they manage to negotiate the amorality of the BODIES Exhibition? They get outraged when it comes to abortions, yet posing dead bodies, REAL bodies of people who actually lived and definitely deserve the dignity of being buried or whatever they might have wished for their vessel and not posed playing cards, etc. is a fun, educational experience that Cincinnatians bring their children to see? I can’t believe the hypocrisy of this.