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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2009

TAMPA - The new exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry folds science into art, icky into beautiful.

"Body Worlds & The Story of the Heart" opens today to what museum officials hope will be crowds similar to "Bodies, The Exhibition," a showing that was at the museum from August 2005 to August 2006. That show drew half a million people.

Both exhibits have commonality: They show real organs and bodies that have been encased and preserved in plastic.

Organs are in display cases, and bodies are posed in various lifelike positions. A gymnast bends over backward on a balance beam; an Olympian rears back to fling a javelin. Each display shows how muscles work during the exercises.

A body on display involves about 1,500 hours of work over a year's time.

"I and my husband ... wanted to show the intricate and beautiful design of the human body," said Angelina Whalley, who heads the Institute For Plastination in Germany, which encased the organs and bodies in plastic. "We take the utmost care to make the specimens look as beautiful as they can."

The exhibit runs through June. Tickets can be purchased at www.mosi.org.

Keith Morelli

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