Since Carnegie Science Center first announced it was bringing "BODIES ... The Exhibition" to Pittsburgh, we at Carnegie Museums have received an unusually high number of expressions of concern about the exhibit, always from individuals who have never seen it. The central theme: "Why are you doing this?"

Now that the first human body has arrived (for a preview event last week), I think the better question is: "What took us so long?"

Such concerns are nothing new. We've been asked similar questions about a number of The Warhol's eclectic, sometimes gut-wrenching exhibitions on subjects most of us don't expect to find addressed in a museum, much less a museum dedicated to the king of pop culture. Why the Abu Ghraib photos? Why an exhibition about lynching in America? Why the recent "Deadly Medicine" exhibition, which took a hard look at the dark history of eugenics?

One answer came loud and clear earlier this year, when an elderly Jewish man stopped Warhol Director Tom Sokolowski on the street and thanked him for bringing "Deadly Medicine" to Pittsburgh. He didn't want the world to forget, even if it made the world uncomfortable remembering.

Who else would have brought such exhibitions to Pittsburgh, had it not been for The Andy Warhol Museum? And wouldn't our city and region be culturally poorer, less interesting and less informed had it not been for the community discourse these exhibitions inspired?

As president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, I'm often asked to sum up what we do here in the museum world, and why it matters. It's my great pleasure to do that, and to point to the great diversity of the four Carnegie Museums in particular.

Simply put, the role of our museums is to encourage exploration of all kinds through art and science. To conduct research, present exhibitions and create educational programming that challenge us, raise questions we can't always answer and trigger thought-provoking discourse. And, yes, sometimes to generate controversy.

Early Carnegie Internationals caused quite a stir when they first introduced the daring work of the Impressionists. And creationists continue to challenge the very existence of the evolution documented by our fantastic dinosaur collection, as well as our vertebrate paleontologists' ongoing research into the evolution of mammals. Yet I shudder to think of the day when our museums explore only those topics that make us all feel happy and comfortable. What a sad day that would be.

William Hazlitt, a prolific 19th-century British essayist, once observed, "When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest." And while this credo could just as easily be used to defend society's tendency to feed on the dirty laundry and hardships of others, it also neatly sums up the good that can come from those things that challenge us not only to affirm our own beliefs and assumptions but to consider someone else's.

This past July, it came to our attention that two sisters visiting the Carnegie Museum of Art's current "Viva Vetro! Glass Alive!" exhibition were disturbed by a 3-inch-high glass cup on display in that wonderful show. The red, white, and blue cup, called the "Freedom of Speech Cup," bore the four-letter "F" word -- a word that understandably offends and upsets many of us.

Taken out of context, some would call it a wanton display of profanity. And some did. But viewed in context, as explained by the cup's label, others could -- and did -- learn and come to appreciate that it was created at the heart of the 1960s protest movement and was an early example of American artists creatively applying Venetian-born glass-making to create art that was uniquely their own. In this case, protest art.

It was amazing -- almost silly, at first -- to see the complaints of two people become breaking news the next day (in certain newspapers and TV news broadcasts). But then, how appropriate and refreshing to be discussing the topic of "free speech" -- on any day of the week! -- as a result of this or any other art exhibition. That tiny cup inspired exactly the thing it was created to defend: the freedom of everyone to speak his or her mind.

Fully aware that the "BODIES" exhibition has been met with controversy everywhere it has appeared, Carnegie Science Center has been trying to bring it to Pittsburgh for years. Why? Because the most powerful learning experiences are those that showcase something real; in this case, real human bodies. And what a fantastic learning opportunity this will be!

The bodies -- all unclaimed, which is part of the controversy -- have been carefully and respectfully preserved through an amazing scientific process called "polymer preservation." The end result is an experience that allows visitors to bear witness, as they never could before, to the truly miraculous makeup of these human bodies of ours. What's more, visitors will have the opportunity to learn, by seeing for themselves, much about their own bodies and the numerous diseases that continue to confound science and affect us all.

Carnegie Museums is proud to bring exhibitions such as "BODIES" to the region -- exhibitions that break with tradition and offer experiences that are truly unique and worthy of so much public discussion. And we're grateful that our community, including the media, cares enough about what we do to participate with us in healthy, open intellectual discourse.

Cultural organizations such as ours can't, and shouldn't, always play it safe. I'm proud to say that we don't. And prouder, still, to say that what we do every day really does matter in the big scheme of things -- by challenging us in ways that aren't always easy or comfortable, but are always worthwhile.