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hello colleagues,

as an american exhibit developer living in germany and austria for the
past 4 years, i have had the chance to read the german press regarding
Gunter von Hagens and his body show. he is HIGHLY criticized here for a
number of reasons: 

1. as there is no capital punishment in europe (it is claimed some
bodies are the remains of capital punishment prisoners whose bodies were
sold after "sentencing") the use of bodies coming from less than
scrupulous regions is highly questionable (even with a document of
donation). von Hagens says most of the corpses come from Europe, which
in his geography includes russia and its previous states. he apparently
has documents of donation for some but not all.

2. a verdict was reached by a Frankfurt court that he may no longer
publicly use the title "professor" in europe, since his alleged title
came from a chinese university not recognized by european universities
and it thus created an illusion of professionalism and authority that he
actually lacked. the dr. title is real.

3. (mostly difficult for the art lovers). he is criticized for dressing
like Joseph Beuys, a beloved german artist and political/environmental
activist from the 60-70s. an equivalent faux pas with american players
would be if the president of a US company profiting from sweatshop labor
were to dress purposefully as to be mistaken for Abby Hoffman.     


of course everyone i have spoken with who has seen this show in both
the states and europe was absolutely fascinated. 

try googling "koerperwelten" (koerper=body, welten=worlds), it is
mostly archived articles discussing the subject. 


greeting from austria,
wendy coones

 
>>> martin weiss <[log in to unmask]> 08.08.2006 14:52:20 >>>
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
*****************************************************************************

	Perhaps some recall that at last years ASTC session there was 
a some heated discussion and concerns about the source of the bodies 
for these exhibitions.  It does not seem that this article sheds any 
more light on the human rights concerns.

	As Body Worlds has been traveling has anyone spoken to 
visitors about their concerns and experiences at the exhibitions?

Cheers,

Martin


>
>Today's NY Times has a provocative article and accompanying video on 
>China's booming business of preparing plastinated bodies for export 
>as museum exhibitions, and the human rights concerns being raised: 
>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/business/worldbusiness/08bodies.html

>

-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Vice President, Science
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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