Hot summer day!
Don't believe it when people tell you the Pacific North West is always cold and damp. Today was my first, bona fide, 100°F day (40°C) in America. Luckily, there was a bit of a breeze in the morning, but the afternoon was still and stinking hot. Not as humid as Sydney heat, but still quite warm enough, thank you very much!
So Christine, Kim, Kevin and I went to see Body Worlds 3 down at OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. I don't think this type of exhibition has made it down to Australia yet (although there are a lot of imitators and similar exhibitions, so I could be wrong), and it certainly is an eye opener. Plastinated (super super preserved, basically) human bodies arranged in action poses. Muscles, nerves, organs and brains are all on display in all sorts of creative and slightly nausea-inducing ways, but it really is fascinating. The exhibit goes to great pains to note that all the bodies are those of donors, and there's even a form for you to take home if you decide you would like to further science by having your cadaver shown kicking a soccer ball for the edification of future generations. Art, science or showmanship? I'm still not sure, but the sight of a plastinated bactrian camel was something to behold!
Posted in: chaosboy, portland, shows on July 10, 2007 at at 10:07:00 PM
Hi Cam
you didn't need to leave home. We have the Amazing Human Body exhibition here now. I recall in England some years ago that they were touring it there saying they were plastic replicas and it got rather nasty when they were shown to be real cadavers.
Lynn