Dr.von Hagens' Corpse Show

Dr. von Hagens' first thought was that this would be a remarkable teaching tool for medical students. And that it was. But in the mid-90s, when he put together the first exhibition of his specimens to display to the general public, he realized that the man on the street was fascinated by these things, too, and would gladly pay to see them. His show in Japan was a huge success. When he moved it to Mannheim, it was an even greater success. People lined up for hours around the clock to see Dr. von Hagens' preserved corpses.

As might be expected, he wasn't without his detractors. Religious figures felt it was a desecration of the human body. Medical professionals thought it was wrong for him to profit from such a thing?that von Hagens had become more of a showman than a scientist. He faced picketers and a mayor who tried to shut down his Mannheim show.

The thing that really got to people is the fact that Prof. von Hagens didn't merely preserve bodies and put them on display. No, he created sculptures out of them, turned them into elaborate, surreal works of art. The muscles on The Runner, for instance, are pulled away and back from the skeleton, as if they were being blown by the wind. The body of an extremely pregnant woman was opened up, allowing viewers to see the corpse of the fetus in her belly. One sculpture stood with his removed skin draped casually across his arm like a raincoat. Each figure he creates, he creates differently, in order, ostensibly, to reveal and illustrate some aspect of the human anatomy. To the untrained eye, however, they can easily seem shocking and bizarre.

Whether or not it was the controversy that drew people to the shows, it didn't seem to matter?people went. And they went in droves. Not only did von Hagens make a great deal of money, but by the time the Mannheim show was over, he had collected donation cards from several hundred more people?people who knew what they were getting into, and who were willingly leaving their bodies to von Hagens, to let him turn them into whatever he would like. But Prof. von Hagens still didn't have the one thing he was hoping for?namely, a show in the United States.

Shortly after I spoke with him for that story, negotiations for a planned exhibit in San Francisco fell through, for various reasons (lack of space, lack of money). But that didn't discourage him, so during the last week of August, Dr. von Hagens came to New York to scope out the territory, and try to figure out how to bring his exhibition here.

The world of plastination has changed considerably over the past couple years. For one thing, Dr. von Hagens' patent on the plastination process ran out, and waiting right there was a team from Michigan who had devised a much quicker and cheaper means of plastination. Go on the Internet and you'll find plenty of sites where people post photos of their own plastinated specimens. It's a growing subculture, it seems.

Still, however, those people are plastinating groundhogs and bunnies. Few are doing what von Hagens does?and even fewer with as much style, panache or success. It's something unlike the American public has ever seen.

I was contacted by Karen Schuessler-Leipold, from von Hagens' Koerperwelten ("World of Bodies") Institute for Plastination two weeks before the professor's planned arrival in New York. She told me that Dr. von Hagens wanted to have dinner with me and talk about the possibility of putting a show together here in the city.

Why me? I have no idea. The doctor's had plenty of American press?and many of those other reports reached a much wider audience than my little story. Nevertheless, I was happy to accept the offer. While I'd talked to the professor on the phone, we'd never met. It sounded like a great opportunity.

Unfortunately?again, for various reasons, schedules and whatnot?things didn't work out in the end.

Even though the actual meeting didn't work out, Ms. Schuessler-Leipold asked if I might still be able to suggest a few venues they might approach about the possibility of hosting the show. That was a tricky one, if only because von Hagens' show is so huge (it's an exhibit that contains a hundred pieces or more?and the professor, I'm told, was not interested in breaking them up). While there are plenty of logical places to put a show like his?the Academy of Science, for instance?even the Mütter Museum down in Philly?those spaces are much too small for what he would like to do. The Mannheim show took place in a warehouse?so I suggested the Armory on 25th St. Why not? The Javits Center's too big, and he'd have to deal with Teamsters. That's the problem?a show like this is normally done on a much smaller scale. And those things done on a scale akin to what he's looking for are normally comprised of much bigger objects?like boats or cars or pieces of farm equipment. There are so few places in New York that exist anywhere in between.

I also suggested the Natural History museum. What the hell? Natural History will probably be too skittish about the subject matter, but who knows? It's a show they could probably house, plus it makes perfect sense.

Which, unfortunately, made it a long shot.

Morgan suggested the Cathedral of St. John the Divine?which struck me as absolutely perfect. They've got the space, and they've certainly got the atmosphere.

Ms. Schuessler-Leipold's next question for me was trickier still.

"If you would like to spend some thoughts on how the American people will react on the display of the specimens," she wrote, "your comments will be surely appreciated by Gunther who is not sure whether the Americans are yet ready for such an exhibition."

It's funny, but even before she asked that, I'd been thinking about that exact issue?even conducting a sort of unscientific "man on the street" (or, more specifically, "man in the bar") poll to see what people might think about a display of creatively posed human corpses. Some people simply did not care to hear about it or discuss it in any detail. Most, however, were intrigued. And a few?among them a nurse?were decidedly enthusiastic about seeing the show. The nurse told me she'd seen some clips of the Mannheim show on the television, and thought that what von Hagens was doing was great. But again, she's a nurse, and knows what she's looking at.

The von Hagens crew had a dozen things to consider. While on the surface, Americans are a squeamish and morally uptight people, railing against the amount of sex and violence in the media, at heart we're all a bunch of perverted rubberneckers. All you need to do is look at the Neilsen ratings to see that.

So if you put a show of "corpse art" up in town, sure, you're going to get a bunch of self-righteous screamers howling much more loudly than they did in Europe. But if they do, you know the crowds lining up to see the show would triple overnight. Who would've cared about "Sensation" if the Mayor hadn't tried to shut it down? Who would've sat through The Last Temptation of Christ if the God People hadn't shown up with their picket signs and bullhorns?

However, whenever a controversial show of any kind arises, I can't help but remember that New York is a town full of ignorant, pint-sized Lazlo Toth wannabes. (And I don't mean Don Novello's character, either.)

I also warned Dr. von Hagens that he's going to have to be prepared for people to point out the fact that he's a German putting up a big display of corpses. People get themselves worked up into such a lather over things like that.

What I wonder is whether or not the show will have the desired effect. Because before anything else, it's intended to be an educational show. Von Hagens, if you talk to him, isn't out to shock or disturb people (even if that's what happens sometimes). He wants to educate them about how the human body is put together. He's counting on a lot of school trips. Will that really happen here, or will the show be packed with jaded 16-year-old punk rock kids out for a cheap thrill?

Granted, I have no doubt that there would be thousands of them?I have no doubt that it would be a very profitable show?but would he teach anybody anything? I don't mean to be crass or dismissive here, but Americans are simply not as well-educated as Northern Europeans or the Japanese. But I guess it's all a matter of presentation.

I explained all these things to Ms. Schuessler-Leipold, who passed it along to von Hagens. A few days later, I heard back. They'd narrowed down their choices, and again wanted to know what I thought.

I figured they might have trouble of one sort or another with most of the institutions around here?which is why I suggested the Armory. Four-walling it definitely seemed to be the way to go.

What they decided to do was take four-walling to an extreme, by actually putting up their own four walls, building their own structure specifically to house the show, and putting it in either Central Park or Flushing Meadows. It struck me initially as a weird way to go?and weird choices of places to put it. But if they can take care of all the city ordinances and whatnot they'll have to comply with, and if they can take care of the heavy security they'll need?and, most importantly, if they can figure out a way to keep the C.H.U.D.s out of there at night, you can expect to see Dr. von Hagens' show opening in New York as early as a year from now.

And I may well be there selling tickets.