Diorama Revisited: The BodyWorlds Exhibit of Guenther von Hagens and the Artistes Macabre

This podcast discusses the BodyWorlds exhibits of Guenther von Hagens who has channelled the old 18thC impresarios of anatomical dioramas. Von Hagens has laid a new narrative of death that has insinuated the human body (in this case the plastinated body) into the public museums but not without considerable ethical controversy. It is perhaps no accident that Germany with its dark history has proved the most popular country for von Hagens’ shows. These too have spawned much of a reinvigoration of body art which also channels the movement led by Yoko Ono in the 1960’s, that morphed into the Young British Art movement stratospherically manipulated by Damien Hirst and that has produced the anatomical hyper-realism of the Australian sculptors Ron Mueck and Patricia Piccinini. At last, sculpture has come full circle to challenge the visual supremacy of painting as the finest representation of the human form.

 

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Music J.S.Bach：Choralvorspiel "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (Awake! We are being Called!)

Arranged by Wilhelm Kempff and played by Matsumoto Nozomi