The Body Worlds Exhibition at Times Square Gets Under Your Skin and How!

I’m not a serial killer, I swear! No, that is not something a serial killer would say. I’m innocent, I swear!

Okay, maybe that’s something a serial killer would say.

But the point that I’m trying to make here is that (other than the fact that I’m not a serial killer) is that I’ve always had a morbid fascination with the insides of the human body.

Err…okay, that sounded creepy. (I’m really not helping my case here, am I?!)

Let me paraphrase: I’ve always been amazed by the functions of the human body. It is a fantastic to think of how it can be bent, broken, crushed, set ablaze…and still overcome it with ease is nothing short of a miracle. A miracle that has occupied my mind for as long as I can remember. What makes our bodies tick; I’ve always wanted to know.

So imagine being served this chance right up on a platter. I’d grab at the chance faster than you could say: “Body Worlds: Pulse!”

You heard (read) right. Body Worlds: Pulse at Discovery Times Square. Real human cadavers preserved for all eternity…in plastic! An incredulous plastic world through a process called Plastination created by anatomist Gunther von Hagens way back in 1977.

With its headquarters in Guben, Germany, Dr. Death as tabloids call him has taken Body Worlds to cities all across the world including London, Boston, Istanbul, Tokyo and our very own New York.

Pulse, which was designed especially for New York’s Discovery Times Square is home to some of the most extraordinary displays of skinless human cadavers I have ever seen. Walking in, you’re stunned silent by the Skin Man- a flayed, sinewy man who proudly holds up a blanket of his skin, as if he has no use for it anymore…as if he could do away with it. Further along, a skeletal man down on his knees holds his heart in his hands almost as if he were offering it in prayer. ‘Adiposity’- an obese figure lying flat in a display case has his front cut open with excess fat pressing down on his organs is thought provoking and makes you contemplate the amount of stress we put on our organs by eating unhealthy food and leading sedentary lifestyles.

It feels almost intrusive to look at these posed bodies, almost as if you’re looking at them at their most vulnerable…the thought is almost humbling.

And while it is nothing less than a miracle to be able to actually witness the amazing way in which our bodies function, there seems to be a deeper meaning attached to these bodies. It’s as though they’re trying to remind us of the stress we put on our bodies on a daily basis. And this is the part that really blows my mind- the human body, this miraculous creation, has the ability to withstand emotional trauma, psychological strain, physical abuse and neglect and infinite suffering. But why should it have to in the first place? Don’t we owe it to ourselves to take it easy on our bodies? To be kinder to our bodies; gentler and more attentive to its needs?

It amazes me how we forget that our bodies perish one day. Maybe it’s time to stop and think and re-examine your life. After all, “You were made from dust. And to dust you will return.”

***

Discovery Times Square in New York is a full scale exhibition center. It has housed many traveling exhibitions since it first opened in 2009, but perhaps none as intriguing as this one! The science and splendor of the human body is on display through Plastination – a unique look at anatomy. “Body Worlds: Pulse” is at Discovery Times Square – created by donors who gave their bodies after death for this exhibit.

Related posts:

Times Square, New York – October 2011 Ventura’s The Cliff House Inn: Close to LA but Worlds Away Skin Tight Red Square & the Kremlin – Moscow – April 2011 The Do’s and Dont’s of Being an NYC Tourist