Bodyworlds at SMV Enters Final Days.

Gunther von Hagens' BodyWorlds exhibit is beginning its final week at the Science Museum of Virginia in downtown Richmond.  I had the opportunity to see it yesterday and came away awestruck.

A one-of-a-kind exploration of the human body and brain, BodyWorlds features 12 fully-preserved human bodies.  The skin has been removed from the bodies to display the muscular, skeletal and nervous systems and major organs of our bodies.  By placing them in positions such as swinging a baseball bat, supporting themselves on gymnastics rings, and performing ice skating and ballet postures, von Hagens' exhibit demands an appreciation of the complex mechanics of those systems.

The bodies are preserved in a process called plastination, in which they are posthumously treated with silicon and various gases to prevent decay and maintain other inner structures. The bodies in the exhibit are therefore called plastinates.  In many major cities, von Hagens has included plastinates posed to simulate playing a saxophone, riding a horse (also a plastinate), playing chess, teaching at a blackboard and so on.  The exhibit has garnered some controversy and many accolades and media attention.  In the recent James Bond film Casino Royale, Bond stalks a villain through an early BodyWorlds exhibit.

Most people I approached about BodyWorlds reacted with considerable apprehension.  "I don't think I could handle it," one said.  "I've had the chance to go see it six or seven times, but I just can't bring myself to do it," another said.  "I have no desire to see that."  I personally looked forward to seeing the exhibit.  Having spent half my life with moderate pain in my back muscles and lower lumbar areas, I was excited to get a direct look at those parts of the body especially.

The most dramatic plastinate on display at the Science Museum of Virginia was a pair of figure skaters in a death spiral, in which the male bends down a bit and leans back, holding the female's hand as she circles him almost flat to the ground.  He serves as a counterweight to her extreme pose, and their held hands support the other from falling.  Another, at the end of the swing of a baseball bat from his left to right, his face up to follow an imaginary baseball, is a unique vision of both sides of the back muscles - especially the paired latissimus dorsi.  The right side was relaxed, as it had been on the receiving side of the swing, but the left side was stretched to its utmost, as the left arm was stretched across the body.

Each plastinate had been carefully positioned to display specific parts of the body.  A ballet dancer was a singular complement to the figure skaters; her delicate balance and raised right leg forced patrons to consider the mind and body training we undergo in our youths to perform such acts.  Another, supporting himself on gymnastics rings, had some muscles splayed with forceps and surgical spreaders to show bones and prosthetic body parts.

Full plastinates are far from the only attraction in BodyWorlds.  There are dozens of individual body parts encased in glass with basic anatomical information - a healthy heart sits next to an enlarged heart, a healthy lung is shown next to a smoker's lung, etc.  The brain of an Alzheimer's patient is displayed at the midpoint of the exhibit, its recesses deeper and wider than that of a healthy brain.

Nancy Tait, the Science Museum of Virginia's Manager of Communications and Stories, met with me and gave me my Press Kit for BodyWorlds.  She was actually kind enough to stop by the museum on her day off to speak with me about the exhibit.  "It really is beautiful," Tait said.  "A friend of mine went through and said 'I know this sounds horrible, but the first word that comes to mind is exquisite,' and I said 'I don't think that's horrible at all.'"

Tait said that the Science Museum of Virginia is extending its hours for BodyWorlds' final week, including showtimes through midnight on Friday and Saturday.  A gift shop boasts several published books about the exhibit, a DVD, postcards and more.  Ticket and showtime information is available at SMV.org.  Information about BodyWorlds is available at the BodyWorlds website.