Human and animal corpses in Art cause controversy

[Guest guest]

Human and animal corpses in Art cause of controversy

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23rd March 2002

 

An exhibition in London titled " Body Worlds " is showing a display of

skinless and dissected human bodies.

 

In recent years, the use of animal corpses in " Concept Art " exhibits

has caused public outcry.

 

The most famous of these exhibits is Damien Hirst's " Mother and Child

divided " (1993)

displaying a cow and calf preserved in formaldehyde.

 

Now the use of human corpses has been presented in " Body Worlds " by German

anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens.

 

A recent Associated Press Article quoted one visitor to the " Body Worlds "

exhibit

as having thrown a blanket over the preserved body of a pregnant woman.

 

The AP article said protester Martin Wyness, who paid the STG10 ($28.68)

entrance fee,

walked upstairs to the exhibit and said he could not bear to look directly

at the seven-month unborn

child in the womb of the woman as he threw the blanket.

 

The AP article says " The Roman Catholic Church has denounced the display but

its creator, German anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens insists it's not

macabre, but a display of

'the beautiful interior of the body'. "

 

The use of human corpses in the exhibit " Body Worlds " is defended by its

creator, German

anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens who insists it's not macabre, but a display

of

" the beautiful interior of the body " says the AP article.

 

The exhibition is composed of 175 healthy and diseased body parts and 25

whole bodies. Von Hagens developed a preservation technique, called

plastination, in 1978 to prepare specimens for medical institutes.

 

The use of animal corpses in Art has been debated in past years with

one of the most controversial exhibits being " Mother and Child divided " by

UK artist Damien Hirst.

 

Hirst also produced " Away from the flock " (1994) displaying a lamb in

formaldehyde

solution preserved in a steel and glass tank.

 

Artwork such as Hirsts is known as " Concept Art " and has been criticised by

many people

including Ivan Massow, chairman of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts

(ICA).

 

" It is the product of over-indulged, middle class (barely concealed behind

mockney accents), bloated egos who patronise real people with fake

understanding, " he wrote in the New Statesman magazine.

 

Hirst held his first major public London show at the ICA in 1992.

 

Another animal corpse based Art exhibition was the 1999 exhibit

" Monstrance " by University of Manitoba art professor Diana Thorneycroft.

 

Thorneycroft received $15,000 funding for her exhibition which involved

12 rotting rabbit carcasses strung up in a forest.

 

Last year an outdoor exhibit involving German contemporary artist Flatz

featured dropping a

dead cow from a helicopter while an orchestra played.

 

In Australia in 1999 a spray painted blue cow was deposited outside a Sydney

museum and in 1975 a Melbourne artist deposited a slaughtered cow on the

forecourt of the National Gallery of Victoria.

 

End

 

References:

See Damien Hirst's work at

http://hotwired.lycos.com/gallery/96/27/index3a.html

Read Criticisms of Hirst's work by Ivan Massow at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/arts/newsid_1766000/1766846.s

tm

Orchestra to play while dead cow falls

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_350115.html?menu=news.quirkies

Blue cow dumped outside museum

http://www.ausartweb.com/jrbluecow.htm

Dead cow dumped outside museum

http://www.qsl.net/ab8ci/oct99/blue_cow.htm