Death at the Museum: Anatomical Collections and the Public Eye

MFEL4851

Death at the Museum: Anatomical Collections and the Public Eye

What secrets lie behind the locked doors of NTNU’s anatomical collection? Join us in challenging taboos surrounding the display of the human body to transform this hidden resource into an open, accessible, and inclusive hub of knowledge.

Introduction

NTNU’s anatomical collection of human and animal specimens housed at the Laboratoriesenteret at St. Olav’s Hospital is normally reserved for medical students and professionals due to ethical and legal consideration. This village breaks open those barriers, inviting students from all disciplines to explore, question, and innovate around these sensitive materials.

Using this collection as the foundation for your discourse, you’ll collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to rethink how anatomical knowledge is preserved, displayed, and shared. Drawing on your combined expertise, you will develop an idea, framework or prototype that makes this hidden collection accessible, inclusive, and relevant to diverse audiences. Examples could include, but are not limited to, an archive of artefacts, exhibition concept, digital solution, ethical handbook, cataloguing system, workshop, online presence... the only limit is your imagination and your team’s combined skills.

Along the way, you’ll confront cultural taboos about death and the display of human body, engage with ethical challenges, and explore new ways to bridge science, art, and education. This hands-on experience prepares you not only to work across disciplines, but also to imagine bold futures for scientific collections.

Possible topics to engage with during this course include:

Anatomical Museums and Ethics: Explore the historical context of anatomical museums and the ethical dilemmas surrounding public access to preserved human bodies. Analyse existing ethical frameworks and regulations governing anatomical collections.

Accessibility and Education: Investigate inclusive pedagogical strategies for disseminating anatomical knowledge to audiences ranging from high-school students and the general public to medical students and researchers at master’s, PhD and postdoctoral level.

Contemporary Museology and Anatomical Knowledge: Investigate modern approaches to museology and their possible application to anatomical collections. Reimagine the intersection of art, science, and education in anatomical exhibitions.

Death, Culture, and Display: Examine cultural attitudes toward death, the body, and the ethics of displaying human remains. Explore the role of anatomical museums in shaping societal perceptions of the human body.

Digitization and Virtual Accessibility: Investigate digital technologies, such as 3D scanning and virtual reality for making anatomical collections accessible without physical display. Discuss the advantages and limitations of digitization in museum settings.

One Health: Engage the comparative anatomy collection to address environmental crises through topics related to the interaction between environmental and human health. Inspire dialogue, raise awareness, and catalyse action towards a more sustainable future.

Relevant competency

Students from all disciplines are welcome. Competencies in the following fields could be particularly relevant:

Art, Architecture and Design - Biology and Conservation - Communication - Engineering and Technology - Environmental Science - Ethics - Humanities - Medicine and Healthcare - Museology and Curation - Pedagogy - Philosophy - Social Sciences

About the village

The first week of this course is particularly intensive. Using the Design Sprint framework (https://www.thesprintbook.com/the-design-sprint) developed by Jake Knapp from Google Ventures, you will be guided through various brainstorming techniques to land a project idea in only 5 days. In this start-up phase, we will also invite experts to share their insights and experiences in the fields of anatomical pedagogy, specimen production, exhibition and curation, ethics around the display of human remains, medical applications of new media tools and more.

Having decided on a project direction, you will spend the next two weeks developing and testing a prototype. At various intersections along the course, teams will present their progress to the collective and engage in constructive critique to help refine their projects further.

The village will conclude with an oral project presentation to peers, stakeholders, and experts (subject to availability). This presentation will account for 50% of your course grade and must be accompanied by a digital submission of your PowerPoint slides. Following the course, you will have one week to prepare a reflexive process report on the interdisciplinary collaboration experienced during the project, which will make up the remaining 50% of your course mark.

Experts in Teamwork is a programme focused on learning-by-doing. While the course revolves around the village subject, the main goal is in the hidden curriculum: Teamwork. By the end of EiT, you will have gained insight into group dynamics, reflected on team interactions, and applied key interdisciplinary collaboration skills. Through active participation in a collaborative project, you’ll develop the ability to navigate diverse working methods and perspectives, preparing you to contribute effectively to complex, team-based challenges in your career.

Assessment

In this village, the final work consists of an oral presentation of the project and a written process report, which count for 50% each. All EiT villages have the same assessment criteria, which can be found in the document "Formal framework in Experts in Teamwork - a guide for students and teaching staff".

Audience looking at objects in an anatomical museum.

Links to get the juices flowing

Videos

In the order I would recommend watching them ;-)

Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life | Alua Arthur | TED
TED. (2023). Duration 00:18:13

Organ & Body Donations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Last Week Tonight. (2023). Duration 00:31:37
Ps. I think the entire episode is fascinating and entertaining, but you can start at 00:18:00.

Contemporary Cabinets of Curiosity: Artist Mark Dion
Nasher Sculpture Center. (2013). Duration 01:16:35