The Witte’s 100 million dollar re-do continues, but it’s not affecting the exhibit schedule. The exhibit is beautiful, fascinating, and while it may sound creepy, is really educational. Witte President Marise McDermott talks about the process used to turn donated bodies into the Bodies Revealed exhibit, which is opening Saturday:
“It’s an exhibit that reveals plastinated remains of human beings. The organs go through a process where they are turned into plastic.”
It's not the first time the Witte has exhibited bodies treated by this process. A 2008 exhibit called Our Body first revealed plastinated remains to the city. McDermott was surprised by the reaction.
“What we discovered was that entire families came so hungry to learn about the inner parts of their body. This allows you a really close look at how bodies are made.”
Regarding Bodies Revealed, she’s not exaggerating. Bones and tendons and muscle all on full display, and some even frozen in motion. Those bodies-in-motion displays reveal much.
"What your muscles look like when you’re riding a bike, or when you’re breathing a certain way, or when you’re playing baseball."
She says not to expect your kids to be terribly vocal.
“It’s more a church-like experience. There’s something about the body as temple that’s real," she said. "It’s a great privilege to be in close proximity to a human being who has donated his or her body to public education. That alone is so awe-inspiring.”
The exhibit is broken into thematic areas—skeletal, respiratory, reproductive, musculature, and as she explains, an area where you can see the damage some of us do to ourselves.
“A display of lungs of a smoker, and lungs of a non-smoker. And there’s a clear difference!”
For more on the exhibit, go here.
