For Extreme Artist Stelarc, Body Mods Hint at Humans' Possible Future
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“It’s not that we’ve inserted an ear in my arm or that we’ve grafted an ear on my arm or that we are growing an ear on my arm,” Stelarc explained. “The ear also might be a nice of distributed Bluetooth system, where if you telephone me on your cellphone, I’ll be able to speak to you through my ear,” Stelarc said. And this year — it’s been confirmed now — we’ll be doing the augmentation of the helical part of the ear to turn into it more prominent, and we’ll also grow a soft earlobe using my extracted adult stem cells. The correct way of describing the ear on my arm is that it’s partly surgically constructed, partly chamber-grown. Future Projects: Microrobotics and a “Second Skin” One upcoming art piece, Stelarc said, involves engineering an insect-like microrobot that will climb up into his entry. He speaks excitedly about potential future applications for the ear. If I open my mouth and someone else is close by, they might hear your voice on the face of it coming from my mouth. “It’s kind of a visual gesture, a performative gesture of the increasing intimacy of machines and the Possibly manlike body,” he said. Another project in the works is a collaboration with artist Antero Kare — a exhibition in which Stelarc will grow a microbial “second skin.
Source: Wired News (blog)