Naked as We Came
Is it still considered Necrophilia if both participants are corpses?
The pieces were part of Gunther Von Hagens‘ Cycle of Life, and have been met with the most criticism of all of Hagens’ work, of which there is a vast collection.
The human body is the last remaining nature in a man made environment, I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophical and religious self recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of life of the viewer.
We saw his show thing at OMSI in Portland. It was interesting and also disgusting. There’s a lot of controversy about him, though—where the bodies come from, etc.
this makes me feel a leeettttle bit uneasy
The bodies come from voluntary donations, and the donation process is somewhat more rigorous than that used for donating a body to an educational institution. He even has a plaque at the beginning of his shows thanking those who chose to allow their bodies to be used this way.
von Hagens does make a point; his exhibits are about celebrating the body we all possess beneath the skin and all the things it is capable of. Sex is a part of life that sometimes creates life as a consequence.To leave it out would be to gloss over a major portion of the human experience.
Reminds me of the similar Bodies exhibit that went around the country a few years back. I remember that one had a lot of controversy since the bodies might’ve come from Chinese political prisoners. I’m not sure if that one got figured out. I think it was this exhibit, Body Worlds, that they were able to prove that the bodies came from legitimate donations.
isn’t art supposed to make the viewer feel something?
yeah, this kinda weirds me out. This type of stuff is cool and all, but this is too much. Perhaps if they had done something with a pelvic cross section or anything that demonstrated the functional anatomy of copulation, I could see the educational value in that. But this . . . this is just for shock value. People with only a passing knowledge of anatomy will glean little but disgust, or, unfortunately, perverse delight.
I think shock value is a good thing.
As long as these people knew that they were going to be posed like this in death then I see no problem with it. We can all be so lucky to be “stuck” in such positions…
Von Hagen wanted to open a factory few years ago here in Poland, but in the end China seemed cheaper for his business.
I love von Hagens “The Body World” exhibition, and I was nothing but amazed when I first went to see his work while living in Brussel. I guess every modern slasher/horor movie is more disgusting than any of von Hagens’ bodies.