MOM 2006 journal for pdf.pmd - University of Michigan-Flint

In general, science museums do not regulate the morality of the science, technology or
advancements which they promote with the obvious exception of infectious disease. In an
interview, an employee of The Great Lakes Museum of Science and Industry in Cleveland where
Body Worlds 2 was on display, I cheerfully discussed the familiar perspective recycled from von
Hagen’s own mantra, that the exhibit was an extension of the achievements of past anatomists.
She also confided that she likes to ask the children visiting the exhibit if they eat chicken; she
then makes an association between the muscle tissue of the plastinates and fried chicken. While
this may be an accurate comparison, it illustrates the lax attitude on the part of the organizations
hosting Body World’s to formally educate their staff or address the substantial impact on the
children who are visiting the exhibit.
In the audience of the Chicago Body Worlds exhibition during the day of my visit the majority
of participants were children’s groups. Dr. von Hagen’s IfP produces workbooks geared toward
non-biology instruction at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The concepts of von
Hagen’s work, while inarguably valuable in the field of scientific medicine, are a labyrinth of
ethical and aesthetic distinctions. The debate, widely ignored in the artistic community, is
seemingly being predetermined in the minds of the visiting youth of today’s exhibitions.
In Associated Press Reports, the practice of Plastination is denounced by Lutheran and
Catholic Church officials 11 . However, in a press release written by Dr. von Hagen on his Body
Worlds website on April 8, 2005 entitled “Thoughts on Pope John Paul II Being Plastinated”, 12
he claims to have worked preserving relics for the Catholic Church (albeit the church denied the
opportunity for Dr. von Hagen to plastinate the Pontiff’s heart).
As an artist, one wonders if von Hagen feels there is any obligation to the art itself. If so, at
what price does he achieve this? The rate of demand for von Hagen’s Plastination exhibitions
make it is plausible to consider the commercial value of the plastinates as art objects themselves.
This argument raises multiple ethical ambiguities such as the valuation of monetary worth 13 of
the plastinate and the notion that these art objects could be sold to a public audience based on
their popularity.
Von Hagen and Angelina Whalley, the Managing Director of the IfP, indirectly address these
issues in their pamphlet, “Donating Your Body for Plastination.” An individual interested in
donating his/her body for plastination is required to complete a consent form. While it implicitly
states that the IfP does not “give” human specimens to private individuals, the IfP reserves the
right to sell the plastinated body/portions thereof to “educational establishments to finance the
work of the IfP.” 14 The concept of funding private research or for development of a plastinate
museum, as stated on the consent form, raises the notion of the infallibility of the corporation as
well as von Hagen.
11
Scislowska, Monica. “German Who Turns Corpses into Art Raises Deep Suspicion in Poland.”
Associated Press, March 1, 2005.
12
For additional information see, “Thoughts on Pope John Paul II Being Plastinated”, April 8, 2005,
www.Bodyworlds.com/en/pages/Presse.asp.
13
Initial study suggests that under The Freedom of Information Act any citizen of the Unites States has the right to
review the importation documents for commercial entities of materials entering the country. For U.S. Customs
purpose display, exhibition materials are subject to duty and thereby require a commercial value for assessment
purposes.
14
Von Hagen, Gunther and Angelina Whalley. Donating Your Body for Plastination. Heidelberg: Institute for
Plastination, 2004.
Meeting of Minds 2006 127