The art world is at it again. This week, 'Professor' Gunther von Hagens, a German artist, intends to dissect a body in public at the Atlantis Gallery, London -- the first public post mortem since 1830 -- and will charge US$15 a head (that is, customers' heads). Body parts (and possibly *the* head!) will be handed around the audience in sterilised stainless steel trays during the demonstration. Imaginatively, this is quite a step up from piles of bricks, unmade beds, elephant dung paintings, balls of crumpled photocopy paper and pickled sheep that are presently the staple objets d'art (but, oh, so boring!) of our precious London aesthetes.
The prospect stunned the 'authorities' for a few days (by these, I mean the dozen or so top civil servants who actually run the country). Even our well-educated, well-rounded Oxford and Cambridge firsts in ancient history or pre-Socratic philosophy who populate the higher echelons of the civil service were taken aback by this. But then, as always, they responded magnificently. Her Majesty's Inspector of Anatomy -- an official position which I strongly suspect has been invented for the occasion -- has now stepped in and pronounced the exercise to be illegal. The HM Inspector has been spouting various clauses of the Anatomy Act, but close reading of this crude piece of Victorian legislation by our smart journalists on Radio 4 has already established that there are probably no legal grounds in the Act for stopping the performance. It is only a matter of 'ethics' or 'public decency' after all. The 'authorities' are now debating whether (so it is hearsaid) the police should bust the proceedings if the Prof goes ahead with it. This would, of course, be illegal but then, shudder, shudder, we mustn't allow this monstrous act to go ahead, must we? Or must we? After all, Sothebys and Christies and other fine arts auctioneers (not to mention innumerable galleries and hundreds [thousands?] of art historians and other professionals) bring a lot of import earnings into the country. We mustn't damage the reputation of modern art in this country. It wouldn't help our balance of payments at all. Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
