STELARCThe body, art and technology

presentation by Heather Bright

Stelarc as an Artist

Performance artist who combines the body with art and technology

Has had exhibitions and performances since 1980’s

Projects

3rd hand

Exoskeleton

Extra ear

Ear on Arm

Prosthetic Head

3rd Hand Completed in 1980

Mechanical hand attached to right arm

Can pinch, grab, and rotate the wrist

Controlled by signals from his muscles

Touch-sensitive finger pads

Exoskeleton

6-legged spider-like walking machine

Can move forward, back, sideways and turns

Also squats and lifts

The body is in the middle of the machine on a turn table for rotating

Kind of like Doc Oc from Spiderman…

Extra Ear Original plan was to put it in

front of the right ear, but it was not safe with the facial nerves and jaw bone there.

Had idea that the ear could emit sound. When someone gets close, a chip could have it talk, or even play sounds that the other ears hear.

Would take 8-10 months

Ear on Arm On inner forearm

Microphone placed inside ear, but had to take it out because of infection

Final procedure will reimplant microphone to let people hear what the ear hears through wireless internet

Takes a part of the body, puts it somewhere else and makes it do other things

Use technology to extend the body’s functions

Prosthetic Head

3D avatar head with lip-synching, speech, and facial expressions

Interactive

Vision system to detect colors a person is wearing and analyzes the person’s behavior to make conversation more convincing

As the head learns more and increases its database, the artist is no longer in control of what it says

Stelarc’s main interest is to use technology to add to the human body, to extend its functions beyond what it can naturally do.

Kind of like this, only a little more intense