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LONDON, England -- An exhibition of dissected human corpses which caused a storm of protest has prompted a rush of "body donors" who want to be preserved and put on display for future generations.
More than 20 people in Britain have agreed to donate their bodies to an institute run by German professor Gunther von Hagens, whose chosen preservation method is to skin the corpse, splay its insides and put it on display to the public.
"The most certain thing about life is death," Juanita Carberry, 77, from Kenya, told reporters at the exhibition on Monday. "And I believe in recycling everything that is recyclable."
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"My body is a shell I live in. When I die I will have finished with it. If I can dispose of any part of my body for a useful purpose then that is great."
The Body Worlds exhibition, in London after having toured Japan, Germany, Belgium and Austria, consists of around 30 corpses displayed on stands in various poses its organisers say are designed to provoke, educate or shock.
The flagship piece is a horse and rider -- both skinned to display their muscles, bones and innards -- and then "plastinated" like all their other specimens to preserve them and fix them in a pose.
Von Hagens says he invented the "plastination" technique in 1977. The process involves soaking the corpse in formaldehyde, freezing it, thawing it and then dissecting it.
Fat and water are then removed and replaced with plastic, leaving them perfectly preserved, odourless, and both rigid and flexible enough to be free-standing.
When it first opened in London in March, the exhibition was slammed as a "freak show" with no artistic or educational value by some of Europe's leading art critics.
| Some have been shocked by the way the exhibits are displayed | |
It has also been the scene of protests. During its opening week in London, Martin Wyness, a Cumbria-based artist, threw a blanket over one of the exhibits -- a seven-month pregnant woman with the foetus visible inside her.
Professor von Hagens said the only parts of the exhibition that had been purchased were from historical anatomical specimens and no whole bodies had been purchased.
He also said that bodies were only used without consent in countries where the law allowed the use of corpses in this way when the person had died and not been identified. This was not the case in the UK, he said.
Von Hagens said he was delighted his exhibition has persuaded more people to donate their bodies in future -- currently a total of 5,000. He saw it as an "appreciation " of his work, which he insists is about education not sensationalism.
Raymond Edwards, 51, said his decision to donate his body was about being in control.
"I want to take control of my death," he told Reuters. "And what better way is there to die happily? -- knowing that your body is going to go on to inform, educate and stimulate other people for years into the future."
Eulinda Clarke-Akalanne, from Somerset southwest England, told the Press Association, her fear of being buried alive encouraged her to sign up for the exhibition.
"I feel that by doing this I will be helping to advance medical research and enlighten people about the human body."
