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The jury’s in: 'Our Body' exhibition banned in France
France's highest court has held up two previous verdicts banning the "Our Body: The Universe Within" exhibition, making France the first country to ban the controversial human body expo.
By Priscille LAFITTE (text)
The highest judicial authority in France has definitively banned the exhibition “Our Body: The Universe Within”, upholding two previous court decisions that raised concerns over the striking expo that showcases actual human body parts, organs and skin.
The ruling is significant both because banning exhibitions in France is a rarity, and because it makes France the first country to chase out “Our Body". The exhibition has enjoyed successful runs in the United States and Germany.
“Our Body” uses a technique of polymer impregnation, developed by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, that precisely preserves human tissues down to the cell level and cancels putrefaction. It has stunned visitors with its detailed display of intertwining human body systems.
The exhibition was presented to French audiences, first in Lyon and Marseille in the spring of 2008, then in Paris in February 2009, before running into legal troubles.
Body of evidence
Soon after their arrival, the origins of the bodies became a matter of debate in France. Two organisations, “Together against the death penalty” and “Solidarity China”, said they suspected the bodies came from the Chinese prison authority, and not from Hong Kong medical schools, as “Our Body” producer Studio 2 Productions claims.
The exposed body parts and organs are so perfectly preserved, the two rights organisations argued, that they must have been delivered just moments after death. Another observation brought forth by the two groups was that the bodies show no evidence of serious pathology that could have caused immediate death.
The critics of the expo maintain that the bodies probably belonged to former Chinese death row inmates, around 6,000 of whom are killed each year.
Encore Productions, the local French organiser of the exhibition, was unable to prove – on grounds of medical confidentiality - that the Chinese group that provided the bodies had not procured them from prisons.
Appealing… to consumers?
After the rights groups presented their case, a Paris judge ordered “Our Body” to be closed in 2009. The exhibition organisers shot back that the ruling had been “ecclesiastically” inspired, based on the judge’s “personal beliefs” and appealed the decision.
Ten days later, a Paris court of appeals confirmed the ban, but offered a different reason for its decision: the judge insisted that proof of origins needed to be displayed on exhibits. Encore Productions launched a new appeal.
After deliberation, France’s highest appeals court has also sided with the plaintiffs, but on entirely new grounds. According to the presiding judges, the display of corpses for commercial purposes goes against the French civil code, which states: "The remains of the deceased should be treated with respect, dignity and decency."
For Patrice Spinosi, the lawyer for Encore Productions, the decision sets a questionable precedent. “‘Commercial purposes’, is at best a vague term,” Spinosi says. “We will see if any exhibition you have to pay to see can become a candidate for this ban,” he added.
For the winning lawyer, Richard Sedillot, the issue is also far from over. He says he has already been contacted by Canadian and Eastern European organisations that hope to bring similar charges against “Our Body” in their own countries.
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French 1
I honestly think that they shouldn't ban the exhibit because if it was a museum that's been around for a while, why close it from everyone wanting to see.
RE: French Ban
Unfortunately, there is no difference between spending your dead days laying in a coffin, in an urn as ashes, or displayed for educational advancement. Society has seemingly been moralized today by biblical standards, and the authoritarians opinion. I would not mind if i happened to be in a coffin or on display, considering i am DEAD. And, seemingly enough, i do not recall anything "sinful" of where the deceased are placed. The arguement of this matter is clearly biased.
Our Body
Unfortunately the only true way to have perfectly procured organs is if they are still alive when removed, not dead as is listed. As natural bacteria within our very bodies start to attack the cells at the very instant of death, this is 1st year medical knowledge.
Just as models pose for statues and photo's this is by choice, Unfortunately there is no true way to prove that anyone would would want for their body or remains to become pieces of art displayed as if it is still alive. Any display of human remains is rather disturbing and quite wrong. Even those done in museums, regardless their reasoning, these were once people, now just empty carcasses to be buried or burned. The bodies displayed after death started as warnings for the living, yet has been grossly adapted into our everyday lives through religious ceremony. The dead should be left to suffer no more indignity at the hands of others, especially when used for profit. This is one of the most archaic and demoralizing ways for one to be. In days of old this would be referred to as grave robbing, and would be punished, yet because someone labels it as art we are to just stand by and clap as they expose the lifeless remains of the departed.
Re: French ban
If 'church ordained morality' has anything to do with being vigilant against Human rights violations, then it is best for all of us that it exists!
Re: French Ban
This article states that France is the first country to ban "Our Body" exhibition. Hasn't Poland banned this exhibition due to the same grounds? Or was it a similar exhibition?
Our Body' exhibition banned in France
France heads back to the sixteenth century with its church ordained morality.