Went to the exhibition this morning - and it was fantastic.
Its actually difficult to believe that they are real bodies, they look like models of the body (extremely intricate ones at that).
Very educational.
To go back to some issues raised by earlier posts. It would be absolutely impossible to recognise any of the people. The bodies are prepared in such a way that all distinguishing features are removed (eyes for example are replaced by plastic eyes) and practically all skin has been dissected away to show the internal structures. The bodies look 'generic', no one is any more individual looking than any other.
Voyeurism - this is not something that I would imagine is going on. The exhibition is presented in a very clinical and educational fashion. I cant imagine a voyeur getting any more out of it than they would seeing a mummy in a museum. It is simply not presented in a way that would encourage voyeurism. Purely from a production design viewpoint the exhibition is presented with very dim lighting in the rooms, with each piece lit up for examination. There are educational placards accompanying each piece. There are a number of full body models but also a number of individual pieces presented (like dissected bone pieces, individual organs from the body and an emphasis on different anomalies that might result from lifestyle or disease). There is massive discouragement of smoking with pieces showing the results of smoking (smokers lungs and heart, various organs that are diseased with smoking citied as a factor in the particular disease) - they even have a large glass box for smokers to deposit their packs of cigarettes in after the shock of seeing the smokers lungs.
The exhibition is definitely suitable for all ages. There were a number of children there and there is nothing in it that I wouldnt take a child to see. In fact I would encourage people to bring children because it is fantastically educational. I overheard a number of children asking their adult companions questions about different pieces and it was clear that the children were fascinated by what they were seeing. There is absolutely no 'ugh' factor at all - its like a good anatomy book brought to life.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is presented in a firmly educational manner - no different than the type of presentations you would see in any museum. It is not presented as 'entertainment' per se, but as instructional. There is also no sense of 'fun' happening, the exhibition was largely silent besides people quietly discussing the wonders of what they were seeing. It really was like a visit to a good museum with incredibly interesting exhibits.
My only critisism was that there werent enough exhibits!! Youd go round it in an hour and see everything in detail.