March 14, 2004
Something's rotten in the . . .
. . . Science Museum, which today's Times of London reports
is planning to introduce a new gruesome exhibit to its controversial adult-only wing: a decomposing human body in a glass box.That's a fair bet.Directors of the museum’s Dana Centre are negotiating with a television company to mount the display showing what happens to a body after death.
They believe it will provoke a debate and challenge taboos over society’s attitudes towards dying.
Details of the exhibition are still to be decided and it may yet be vetoed on grounds of taste. The museum is understood to have consulted palliative carers, bereavement counsellors and pathologists to investigate technicalities and questions of ethics.I hope they don't place it near the cafeteria.
Posted by David on March 14, 2004 10:50 AM
Wow, you mean bodies rot and get all jellylike and gross after death? Who knew?
Sometimes these cultural mavens really get to me. I mean what "taboos" are they burbling about? Sometimes I think they saw too many excavations of ancient towns where the inhabitants had the custom of burying their dead relatives under the floors of their own rooms and want us to go back to those halcyon days. Or maybe they read too much Keats in their youths. (Didn't he write some icky poem about a woman who kept her lover's severed head?)
Posted by: Andrea Harris on March 14, 2004 11:20 AM
Can't they just video it instead of putting it on display? Having something like that in a museum strikes me as very dangerous. Apart from offending religious sensibilities it could also traumatise people who think they're ok with it but are suppressing death related issues. I hope they don't go ahead with it.
Posted by: duckling on March 14, 2004 2:03 PM
It'd be kinda funny if air conditioning in the building resulted in the body drying out instead of decomposing...
That said, seems to me a time-lapse video would be more effective. And would keep better.
Posted by: Jon H on March 14, 2004 3:12 PM
Hi! My Mother is a ferensics specialist and has been for 12 years. She often comes home with stories about bodies found in oblivious state. These bodies nearly always have open mouths. Please can you tell me why?
Posted by: Jazzy on July 15, 2004 8:09 AM
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