Human specimens in the museum

How can human specimens be exhibited in museums? What function can they fulfil in this context and when is it better to do without them? These are the questions addressed by the exhibition "Ansichtssache. Menschliche Präparate im Museum" at the German Museum of Medical History in Ingolstadt, which was organised in cooperation with the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien. On the IWM side, Prof Dr Stephan Schwan, head of the Realistic Depictions lab, acted as scientific advisor. He is also supervising a study (bachelor's thesis) on the affective and cognitive effects of various human specimens on exhibition visitors.

Visitors invited to join in

The exhibition comprises around 100 items on loan from collections in Berlin, Erlangen and Munich and does not depict current research findings, but rather aims to encourage visitors to formulate their own responses to an appropriate approach. The answers can be submitted at the end of the exhibition in the form of feedback cards and an online survey.

Further information: Website of the German Medical History Museum Ingoldstadt (in German) and video of the opening of the exhibition (YouTube, in German)