you may have already heard about gunther von hagens and his exhibitions, but it’s news to me.

body worlds is an exhibition which displays hundreds of skinned human corpses which have been plasticized using von hagens’ patented plasticizing technique, and posed. there are also a long list of animals skinned and plasticized for your viewing pleasure (and you thought damien hirst was so original). he has been demonized and litigated against in equal measure, basically being accused of just about everything from bad taste to grave robbery. having not actually seen the exhibition (this guy did) i’m not sure what it amounts to. he resolutely claims that the work is not art. (imagine that, someone saying they’re work ISN’T art!) it’s a blurry line. the exhibition is staged and marketed like an art show, with accompanying books and posters, but the work certainly seems more of the educational type, which is to say it’s utterly unimaginative. give an decent artist a giant supply of corpses and i don’t think he would pose them playing soccer. all in all it sounds like it would be of genuine interest, if you could manage to ignore von hagens, the din surrounding him, and the more grotesque aspects of the show. not the corpses but the ridiculous shit in the gift shop. anyone have an opinion on this?