By Christie Bender
Grand Rapids Public Museum
The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) announced today that after nearly a decade, the exhibition Bodies Revealed will return to the Museum this November. The exhibition features real, whole and partial body specimens that have been preserved through an innovative process, giving visitors the opportunity to view the complexity of their own organs and systems like never before.
Opening November 16, 2019, Bodies Revealed will allow people to learn about their own bodies and, ultimately, teach how to take better care of one’s own health and make positive lifestyle choices. In this phenomenal exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body, more than a dozen full body human specimens and hundreds of organs are respectfully displayed to tell the story of the miraculous systems at work within each of us. With a reverent, academic approach, this display allows people of all ages to more closely observe the skeletal, muscular, nervous, digestive, respiratory, reproductive and circulatory systems, and to absorb information normally reserved only for medical professionals.
“Bodies Revealed is an incredible learning opportunity that will enlighten, empower, fascinate and inspire curiosity in Museum visitors,” said Dale Robertson, President and CEO of the Grand Rapids Public Museum. “It is rare to get such an in-depth educational and professional look at our amazing bodies and the complicated way they work – this exhibition gives us this opportunity. We are thrilled to bring this exhibition back to West Michigan.”
Many of the whole body specimens are presented in vivid athletic poses that allow visitors to better understand their own everyday motions and activities, while other specimens illustrate the damage that can be caused to organs by habits like over-eating, lack of exercise and smoking.
The human body specimens in the exhibition are preserved through a technique called polymer preservation. The process permanently preserves human tissue through the use of liquid silicone rubber that is treated and hardened. The result is a rubberized specimen, preserved to the cellular level, showcasing the complexity of the body’s many bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs.
“The educational impact of this exhibition is immeasurable,” said Roy Glover, Ph.D., professor emeritus of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Michigan and chief medical director for Bodies Revealed.
Bodies Revealed will open at the GRPM on November 16, 2019. Tickets will go on sale Fall of 2019. Bodies Revealed is brought to the GRPM by Premier Exhibitions, Inc.
Bodies Revealed is sponsored by David & Carol Van Andel Family Foundation, Bank of America, Meijer, The Steve & Amy Van Andel Foundation, Lacks Enterprises, Inc., Williams Kitchen & Bath, Media Place Partners, AMR of West Michigan and Hope Network Foundation.
