Bodies, the exhibition

“Bodies, the exhibition” in BA

What a mirror can`t show

By Sebastian Angeloni

An educational art exhibition? A morbid entertainment? An attack against human dignity? No matter what you think of it: “Bodies, the exhibition” hits Buenos Aires these days.

Seen by 5.000.000 people all over the world, this particular event shows 20 bodies and more than 200 organs donated by human beings who died due to natural causes. All of them have been provided by the Pekin Medicine School and have been incredibly dissected by Chinese anatomists.

However, there`s much more controversy: apart from the Church opposition, word has it that the Chinese government has rushed the final of some of the bodies which take part in the exhibition. The mercantilist side of the show is other point of criticism. Many think that is inappropiate the fact that a private company take advantage of dead people earning lots of money by exhibiting their corpses.

On the other hand, there`s an educational issue involved: to promote the comprehension of how our bodies work and what`s the effect of daily life on them. Divided in 4 main items that have to do with the four body systems –circulatory, digestive, nervous and respiratory-, “Bodies...” reveals a raw portrayal of obesity, osteoporosis, the distroyed lungs of a smoker, the development of a liver cancer produced by alcohol, a colon tumor and many others consequences of different sorts of addictions and diseases.

This exhibition, that is supported by Favaloro Foundation, opens every day from 10 am to 10 pm at the Abasto Shopping and is likely to stay in the city until de end of October. The feed is $30.

Polemics, educational impact, real bodies and doubts of all kind are the main ingredients of a true anatomy lesson which remains tighten to its own motto: “bodies never lie”.