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The muscles of The Runner are folded back to allow examination of the skeletal system.
The female flamenco dancer stands on the balls of her feet, head turned over her shoulder and facing down as if listening intently for the first note of the music.
Fingers extended, her left arm is poised across her chest and neck ready to swing into motion.
It is a moment of peak athleticism, frozen in intricate detail—every muscle taut and on display.
Every muscle.
Opening Nov. 13 at the S.C. State Museum, Body Worlds Vital is an intimate and sometimes startling look at what lies beneath human skin. What makes the 3-dimensional anatomy exhibit unique is the fact that the organs, limbs and whole-body figures are not models. Each display is donated human tissue preserved through an extraordinary process called plastination.
Pioneered by German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the process is used by physicians and medical students to study the intricate details of human anatomy and the effects of disease. In 1995, the Institute for Plastination created its first museum display, and since that time multiple Body Worlds exhibits have toured the world, fascinating more than 33 million museum-goers.
Body Worlds Vital is the latest collection to tour North America, and explores the relationship between lifestyle choices and disease. Though the displays can be a bit shocking, the side-by-side comparison of healthy and diseased tissue is a powerful teaching tool, says Tom Falvey, director of education at the State Museum.
“Any time you can look at a liver shrunken by cirrhosis or a heart enlarged from heart disease, it can have an effect on how you are living and what you put in your body,” he says.
The museum has dedicated 6,500 square feet of space to host more than 200 exhibits of human organs plus 15 aesthetically posed whole-body plastinates.
“The realistic poses, designed to show musculature and how the body works, achieve this in an exciting and exceptional way,” says Dr. Angelina Whalley, creative and conceptual designer of Body Worlds Exhibitions in Heidelberg, Germany, and the wife of Dr. von Hagens. Each plastinate figure is created from a body donated for that purpose, and anatomists dedicate about 1,500 hours over the course of a year to complete each display, she says.
Visitors will come face to face with plastinates like The Singer, a male figure with an expanded rib cage that showcases the respiratory system at work. Flamenco Dancers, The Fencer and the Acrobatic Couple with Lifted Woman show how muscles, bone and connecting tissue work to facilitate movement. Other plastinates, such as The Runner, have been dissected to provide an exploded view of multiple muscle layers.
Science and anatomy teachers from around the state are scheduling field trips to the museum, taking advantage of the displays to augment their lesson plans. Dr. Erika Blanck, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, says she will bring her graduate students to view the exhibit. She’s also looking forward to escorting her mother and grandmother to see Body Worlds Vital. “Whether you know a little or a lot about anatomy, you’ll be able to find something intriguing or inspiring,” she says.
The display is not for everyone. Museum officials recommend the exhibit only for children in grades five and up, says Tut Underwood, the museum’s director of public information. “It’s for anyone who has a mature desire to better understand his body, anatomy and how to take care of himself,” he says.
Whalley also advises parents to consider the maturity level of their children, but says that over the years she has seen children as young as four or five who, after viewing the blackened lungs of a smoker, were determined never to pick up a cigarette. She’s also witnessed the fascination of children and adults alike, “that draws visitors … in a way that plastic models cannot replicate.”
Fascination and a sense of awe are the most common reactions to plastinate displays, says Dr. James R. Wells, a research professor of cell biology and anatomy at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Wells, who served on a committee that advised the museum on bringing the display to South Carolina, has been trained in the preservation technique and established a plastination lab at the School of Medicine in 2007.
“Dr. von Hagens and his wife have an amazing ability to introduce us to the marvelousness of what we look like on the inside,” he says. “You’ll leave with a new realization of how incredibly wonderful your body is.”
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GET THERE
The South Carolina State Museum is located at 301 Gervais Street in Columbia. Body Worlds Vital runs Nov. 13, 2011, to April 15, 2012.
Exhibit Hours:
Monday (Nov. 13–Jan. 16) 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday–Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: In addition to general museum admission ($7 for adults; $6 for seniors 62 and older; $5 for children ages 3 to 12), Body Worlds Vital admission is $11 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7 for children. Special pricing is available for schools and groups of 10 or more.
Details: (803) 898-4921, scmuseum.org