Abstract

At the Singapore Science Centre in 2010, I went to Body Worlds, an exhibit set up by the Institute for Plastination, founded by Gunther von Hagens. As I later learned, he pioneered plastination—the art, science, and technique of preserving entire bodies and body parts for use in medical and anatomical research, exhibition, or both. A few months after, I made the decision to donate my body after death to the Institute under arrangements similar to that of a Living Will. In my visits to two other Body World exhibits in Germany and the Netherlands, I have seen organs perfectly preserved and had thoughts occur to me that one day, I may well be an exhibit specimen instead of an exhibit attendee. By establishing a connection with existing pilgrimage literature; and using a combination of thick description and pragmatic analyses; this paper puts forward the proposition that visits to these; and other similar; exhibits constitute a pilgrimage of and to the self. The paper also discusses the ethics and practical consequences of body donation; and evaluates the arguments for and against the body donation decision from the lenses of the person making the donation; the person’s significant others; and societal influencers. The paper concludes by suggesting take-off points in discussing the connection between plastination and pilgrimage; particularly in the contexts of intercultural communication and religious studies.

Highlights

  • At the Singapore Science Centre in 2010, I went to Body Worlds, an exhibit set up by the Institute for Plastination, founded by Gunther von Hagens

  • At the time I wrote my holographic will, I was keenly aware that it will one day be my turn to be in the coffin instead of being the one looking at the coffin

  • Even as I saw nothing in the exhibit in regard to contacting the Institute for Plastination, I searched for its contact details asking about information on donating my own body for use in future exhibits

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Summary

Preoccupation with the Inexorable

A dear mentor ( colleague) mentioned in conversation that to exist is to feel pain. That conversation of almost 20 years ago left me in a state I rarely experience: that of speechlessness. At 18 years old, in the middle of college and an assortment of cottage businesses, I wrote a holographic will. Amidst good years, bad years, and in-between years, a 16-year personal pilgrimage as it were, I have remained alive. Over this relatively young life, I have attended my fair share of wakes, of grandparents’ and of friends’, among others. It was both a labor of love and a labor towards science that led to the successful mounting of this exhibit

Plastination
The Process of Body Donation
Germany and Netherlands
Post-Visit Thoughts
Summary
Full Text
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