I've just informed my partner of a very serious request. The most serious of requests in fact, my last request.
When my body ceases to function and it comes time for me to die I don't want to be cremated, or to be placed in a hole in the ground, and I don't want an illegal burial at sea, though I did think about it. When the great Charles Heston in the sky comes for me, I want one thing to be done with this mortal coil of mine. My earthly remains will undergo the process called plastination, preserving me forever as one of the world's largest paper weights.
All fluid will be drained from my muscles and organs, and my skin removed, while German anatomists coat me in epoxy resin and add me to the newest planned exhibit in the controversial, and amazing, Body Worlds showcase.
Body Worlds, if you've never had the pleasure of seeing it personally, is the creation of Gunther von Hagens. It is a truly unique display, where human cadavers are displayed, without skin, so that all or select systems of the body can been viewed by tourists and art aficionados.
For the laymen population, like myself, it is a glimpse into an internal mirror, showing us a side of ourselves that few will ever see, the inside.
Von Gunther has made an announcement about another addition to his anatomical master piece, and its exactly where I want my dried out corpse to end up.
Plans are under way to show a variety of cadavers in a multitude of different sexual positions, in order to show the basic physical process of sex. German conservative politicians are raising a bit of a stink, but the friendly museum goers of Zurich have committed to allowing whatever the anatomist creates, including the, as of yet, unconfirmed, still under discussion, and much debated pieces depicting homosexual sex.
Some days I think if it wasn't or the Germans I'd have nothing to write about.
Having seen a scaled down version of the original, sex free, exhibit recently I have to say just seeing those bodies holding a tennis racket was startling enough, I couldn't imagine seeing Frankenstein's monster giving it to the zombie queen, but isn't that the point of art? To elicit emotion, through shock if necessary. To expose, and educate the beholder in a new point of view. I can say first hand that's exactly what, even the basic Body World, exhibit does, even in its simplest of forms.
This work is important, and if a few German political feathers get ruffled in the process then they should just go back to watching their home made scat porn and simply choose not to view art that they don't appreciate.
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