HOWZAT

Less amusing is a reclining figure of a woman, the pose and title recalling a classical painting. Her swollen stomach has been opened up to reveal a fully formed baby.

Of all the bodies in the show, hers rams home the realisation that these were once living functioning human beings. Who was this woman in this double tragedy, you are compelled to ask. There are no clues here.

This lack of information about the identity and life-story of each corpse does encourage you to view them just as anatomical waxworks. It’s one of the criticisms directed at von Hagens. It could be that the stories that have emerged over the years that his subjects come from unethical sources, like Kyrgystan and Chinese prisons, are behind this reticence. But his own explanation is not unreasonable. If he were to give out details of individuals and how they met their fate, these stories would dominate the show, rather than the larger tale he wants to tell, about the marvel of the human body and all its mysteries.

What it means for those in the exhibition or for their families, is another matter. Is it disrespectful to display bodies this way or is it a celebration of life? Is he exploiting them or giving them a glimpse of eternity? Are we allowed to laugh at death?

Von Hagens himself is a humorous character. He has an otherworldly quality, a rigid physicality and a fixed stare. Like dog owners who resemble their pets, you wonder if he hasn’t spent too much time with his cadavers.

It’s a pity von Hagens doesn’t believe in reanimation, a la Frankenstein. If he did, and he’d be the right one to do it, he should bring back Peter Sellers to star in a biopic of his life. When he speaks it’s hard not to recall the maniacal Dr Strangelove.

Perhaps his obsession with death was caused by a near-death experience in childhood. As the blood transfusions following an accident appeared not to be working, the doctors stood over him, announcing to his father that his time was up. Von Hagens says it taught him a positive lesson that death is normal. Assuming it’s even true – one suspects he likes to perpetrate myth, a psychologist might wonder if the result wasn’t slightly more pathological.

Von Hagens believes, he says, that by the year 2500 we will all be living until we are 300, and supports controversial experiments to achieve that. But at 63, his own time is running out.

When fate does catch up with him, his corpse will join the rest of his Bodyworld cadaver collection - although he’s leaving up to his colleague Angelina Whalley to decide exactly what pose he will be striking, no doubt still sporting his signature black trilby.

We may even get to see the contents of his heart – he says it will be removed and dissected for the show. Will it reveal a commercially driven cynic or an idealistic educator? At the end of the day, who cares. Bodyworld’s is terrific.

Gunther von Hagen’s BodyWorlds opens at London’s O2 on October 24 and runs until August 23 2009. Book tickets online here

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