Blue Ocean Exhibitions and anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens announce that BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life makes its African première at the V&A Waterfront from 31 October 2012. The exhibition has been shown in more than 70 cities throughout the world and seen by over 35 million people and is bound to have widespread appeal among South African and international audiences. BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life is an anatomical exhibition that has an established body donation programme and the informed legal consent of all those on display.  It includes more than 200 plastinates — specimens preserved through ‘plastination’, which is a process of preserving human tissue invented in 1977 by Dr von Hagens. BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life is the original ground-breaking anatomical exhibition by the trailblazing scientist, Dr Gunther von Hagens and shows the complexity, resilience and vulnerability of the human body through anatomical studies of the body in distress, disease and optimal health. Visitors to BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life will witness the arc of ageing — the body living through time from the spark of conception to old age — refracted through the latest findings in longevity and ageing science. “The older I get, the more I realize that death is normal and that it is life that is exceptional” said Dr von Hagens, “I hope this exhibition will encourage people to strive to live with inspiration every day throughout their lives.” Blue Ocean Exhibitions says: “The BODY WORLDS series has always intrigued and proved irresistible to the public. This exhibition will no doubt become one of Cape Town’s must see attractions this summer and will appeal to everyone who is interested in knowing how their body works. We believe this is probably the biggest exhibition of this scale ever to hit African shores so we’re enormously proud to be able to work with Dr von Hagens and BODY WORLDS in bringing it to Cape Town.”