Bodies Exhibition Offers Fascinating Look Inside Ourselves...

A unique educational opportunity to explore a familiar yet misunderstood place, the human body, is now on display at the Atlanta Civic Center. “BODIES...The Exhibition,” which showcases 21 whole body specimens and 250 additional organs, will end its run at the Atlanta Civic Center on September 4.

The provocative 30,000 square-foot display gives visitors the chance to look beneath their own skin and discover the function and mechanics of the human body. The exhibition showcases the natural wonder of real human body specimens, thanks to an innovative process called polymer preservation, which permanently preserves the bodies into a rubber state. Visitors can now encounter what was once only available to those in the medical professions and explore the different systems of the body.

“Seeing promotes understanding, and understanding promotes the most practical kind of body education possible,” said Dr. Roy Glover, chief medical advisor for BODIES.

Visitors to the exhibition learn about the body through interaction with trained medical professionals, trivia facts displayed upon the wall, and personal exploration of the exhibit. Moving from basic to complex, attendants make their way through each system of the body and take an in-depth look at how each system works, both separately and with the other systems of the body.

“By offering an insider’s view of the systems that keep us alive and carry out the activities we often take for granted every day, this exhibition also serves as a wake-up call reminding us that day-to-day decisions directly affect our health,” said Glover. “From real-life examples, like powerful side-by-side comparisons of a healthy lung and a black lung ravaged by smoking, the exhibit encourages healthy lifestyle choices and will change the way people see themselves by enlightening, empowering, fascinating, and inspiring attendees.”

The organizers of the show, Premier Exhibitions, Inc. an Atlanta-based company, have similar exhibitions in Tampa, New York, London, and, most recently, Las Vegas. Premier Exhibitions also is the company behind other museum-quality touring exhibitions such as “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” and “Bodies Revealed.”

One of the natural questions of an exhibition of this nature is, where do the bodies come from? According to the exhibition’s organizers, all of the bodies were obtained through the Dalian Medical University Plastination Laboratories in the People’s Republic of China. Asia possesses the largest and most highly competent group of dissectors in the world, and they are highly skilled in preparing the bodies for educational and scientific purposes. Currently, human specimens in medical schools in China, the United States and other countries throughout the world are donated or unidentified bodies.

Bodies…The Exhibition attempts to make us stop and realize the complexity of our body and how each body is unique and requires proper care to sustain a full and rewarding life. Using the information learned at the exhibit, it is easy to take away the knowledge needed to become a more informed participant your own health care.

BODIES...The Exhibition runs through September 4, 2006 at the Atlanta Civic Center. For times and admission prices, call 1-877-77-CLICK
(1-877-772-5425).