How to engage the museum visitor in the ethic debate on the display of human remains: the Post Mortem exhibition as a case study

The University of Ghent plans to open a new science museum in 2019. Academic collections from various disciplines, currently scattered throughout the campus, will be centralized in a permanent exhibition on the nature of science. In her mission statement the Ghent University Museum focuses on a philosophical storyline, a metaphysic rather than a historical vision on science. The museological scenography will aim to engage the visitor through evoking ethical reflections on science and scientific practice. To test and fine-tune this approach, the museum is currently engaged in putting on temporary exhibitions. From the 15th of October to the 20th of December (2015) the “Post Mortem” exhibition ran in the library, laboratory and autopsy room of the department of Forensic Medicine, shortly after the department had moved. The show addressed the confrontation with the dead body through an art-science dialogue. The visitor was guided on a tour through a clinical setting juxtaposing medical, zoological, archeological and ethnographic collections alongside contemporary works of art. This created a stimulating platform that provoked numerous ethical questions such as “How and why does the scientist approach the dead body as a study object?”, “How can collections that result from medical research, be exhibited to the broad public without objectifying human remains?”. By including contemporary art, visitors became more aware and receptive to human aspects in those scientific disciplines that deal with the dead body. The show opened to a positive response from the press, attracting more than 5000 visitors over the course of 10 weekends