Body Worlds Vital displays complete human cadavers

By Joanne Santomauro

If you are looking for incentive to drag yourself to the gym, visit the Body Worlds Vital exhibit at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. The exhibit features real human organs, skeletons, and muscles that have been preserved through plastination. Plastination is a process discovered by physician Gunther von Hagens in 1977. Plastination removes water and fats from body tissue and replaces them with polymers, depriving the bacteria that decompose the body of the sustenance they need to survive. Dissection and plastination of an entire body requires about 1,500 hours of work and takes about a year to complete.

The Body Worlds Vital exhibit was specifically designed to showcase the effects of malnutrition and lack of exercise on the human body, while also celebrating healthy lifestyles. In a world so reliant on technology that makes our lives more comfortable, we have adopted sedentary lifestyles that have detrimental effects on our bodies.

The entrance to the exhibit displays metal casts of the human body made by artist Larry Kirkwood. The casts vary in shapes and sizes, reinforcing Kirkwood's philosophy as stated on the placard,

"True beauty is not a contest — it is seen within each body, not in comparison to someone else [who] has a totally different set of genetics."

Further in the exhibit are human bodies configured to reveal specific organs or joints.

One of them, entitled "The Runner," features a human skeleton in running position with attached muscles shaved away from the bone to allow viewers to observe the body's bone structure and muscles simultaneously.

"The Singer" is another full-sized body display of a man posed with his mouth open and arms raised. This display allows visitors to see the way the lungs are placed within the body and how oxygen is distributed throughout our blood system.

One particularly striking plastinate was "The Winged Man." The piece featured a plastinate whose pectoral muscles fanned out from the ribcage, revealing several layers of internal organs. The man sports a hat, which according to the placard was a "symbolic link between life and death, making it lively and humorous. Beauty and humor motivate learning, while horror hinders it."

The exhibit also displays flat slices of different body parts and organs. Brain slices are posted on the walls, allowing visitors to see both gray matter and white matter. One visitor commented, "It looks like pizza."

Another fascinating aspect of the exhibit was the blood vessel configurations. These were made by injecting blood vessels with dyed plastic, then removing soft tissue cells with chemicals and fermentation. After this process, all that remains is an intricate plastic replica of our blood system. At Body Worlds, one can examine the complicated map of capillaries, arteries, and blood vessels that compose our circulatory system.

Body Worlds Vital displayed plastinates of organs from smokers, cancer patients and others afflicted by disease and inactivity. In stark contrast to the lungs of a fit non-smoker, the lungs displayed of a smoker were black and shrunken. Similarly, the exhibit showed a healthy liver and a liver affected by cirrhosis, which can occur after excessive alcohol intake.

All the anatomical specimen on display were donated by people who, during their lifetimes, requested that their bodies be used after death to advance our insight of the human body and educate the general public.

In addition to plastinates, Body Worlds Vital showcased "What the World Eats," an art exhibit composed by photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith D'Aluiso documenting photos of 30 families in 24 different countries. Each photo portrayed a family sitting or standing in their homes with one week's supply of food. The exhibit showed stark contrasts in food intake among countries, ranging from the United States suburban family with a hoard of processed foods and snacks to a family in India whose weekly food consumption consisted of long grains and fresh vegetables.

Body Worlds also featured a body mass index calculator for visitors who were curious about their own health.

The Body Worlds Vital exhibit ends in the gift shop, which offers a variety of "brain-teasing" toys (including several puzzles shaped like brains), and stress-relieving foam eyeballs, hearts and other organs.

At the end of the exhibit, von Hagens leaves visitors with one final statement printed on the wall,

"The plastinated post-mortal body illuminates the soul by its very absence," calling for visitors to realize the deep complexity of life itself.

The Tech Museum is located at 201 South Market Street in San Jose. Tickets to Body Worlds Vital are $17 for college students with ID and $19 for the general public. Discount pricing is offered to members of the Tech Museum. The exhibit is open from Monday to Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Contact Joanne at jsantomauro@scu.edu or at (408)554-1918.