exploring bodily performance

(It's late and I couldn't think of a title, so I got that from the website)

I went to the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the California Science Center. 2 seems to be much more hyped than 1 ever was. A lot of people have mentioned it to me, independent of one another. Most of them had not seen the first. Two of my friends told me about the first part back in July. I had seen something about it on the news when it was touring in Europe, but didn't know about it coming to America. We went to see it and were thoroughly impressed. I can't say Part 2 is better or worse than the first, but the two add to one another.

Gunther von Hagens' plastination technique allows for the best dissections I've ever seen. Some of the displays were repeats form part 1, but they were still amazing. They presented skeletal bones, musculature, nerves, blood vessels, artificial knees and hips, metal rods in the spine, normal vs. abnormal organs--smoker's lung, coalminer's lung, enlarged heart, fatty liver, tumors, and goiters. This time, the full-body plastinates were more dynamic, showing various athletes in action so that some muscles were contracted while others were lengthened. Some of the bodies were a soccer player, javelin thrower, shot-putter, baseball batter, ballerina, yoga lady, skier, skateboarder, ring man, and figure skaters. Last time they had a man on a horse. This time, there was an adult camel and a baby camel. I liked how they described their three stomachs and the process of rumination.

Again they showed fetuses at different ages, with the youngest being 4 weeks old. What was new was the pregnant woman standing upright with the baby in her belly. Another display showed a cross section of an obese person next to a cross section of a skinny person to show how obesity overworks the organs and bones. I think they could have better shown the contrast with labels or pointed out specific items. It was towards the end of the exhibit and I didn't want to spend too much time on that display.

If you're in Los Angeles, I highly recommend seeing Body Worlds. It is both educational and artistic. Part 2 will be at the Science Center until March 27. My friend recently saw Part 1 in Chicago.