Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

Crucifixion (2012x18)

Air date: Apr 08, 2012

For centuries, artists of all kinds - from Michelangelo to Martin Scorsese, Salvador Dali to Damien Hirst and Andrew Lloyd Webber to Monty Python - have attempted to convey the meaning of the crucifixion through their work. For many it has been a deeply personal expression of belief. Now anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens, who made his name showing the world the wonders of the human body through his Body Worlds exhibitions, has decided to create a crucifix. The new piece, which he's been planning for over six years, is revealed in this documentary, which features interviews with leading art historians and theologians, amongst others, and examines the enduring iconic image of the crucifix. The documentary follows von Hagens, who in 2011 revealed that he is suffering from Parkinson's disease, as he undertakes an intensely personal journey to create his crucifix. Von Hagens is famous for using donated human bodies in his 'plastinated' works, and the new piece was made by injecting liquid plastic into bones and blood vessels, from a number of donors' bodies, which then hardens to create perfect casts. The resulting figure, which does not contain any human tissue, was then mounted on a wooden cross cut from a tree felled near von Hagens' family home in Germany. The documentary traces the representation and interpretation of the crucifix from illustrations on fourth-century tombs, through centuries of church-sanctioned depictions to contemporary portrayals.