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He always seems to have some strange art idea up his sleeve - this is his latest one:
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HE'S GOT A HEAD FOR THE BIZARRE!
SEAN KENNY
12:00 - 28 February 2004
Meet the computer who lives in California, wants to go on a date in Holland, and claims to have been married for 20 years.
He doesn't know the way to the pub and he's not sure what his favourite colour is, but he likes to chat about philosophy.
But don't push it too far... "Don't get metaphysical on me" is his favourite put-down.
He - or it - is a prosthetic head, the latest idea to bubble up from the fertile mind of performance artist Stelarc.
"There's nothing quite like it in the world," said Stelarc, a principal research fellow at Nottingham Trent University.
"It's a combination of lots of bits of technology that have never been put together before."
From 11am tomorrow, this unique combination of art and artificial intelligence will be at the Broadway Cinema as part of the Screenplay computer gaming festival.
It will be singing with a band and chatting to the public at a question-and-answer session.
Talking to the head is easy - just tap in questions and the head will answer in flat, Hawking-esque tones.
"He's not very good on practical questions," said Stelarc. "Abstract or philosophical questions work best. Ask him what the meaning of life is."
The head is modelled on Stelarc and can mimic a full range of impressions. The only thing it's missing is a human sparkle in the eyes.
The brain is an artificial intelligence programme which stores answers in its database.
And the more questions it is asked, the smarter it gets.
Stelarc believes one day we could all be talking to computers through talking heads.
"They could be on mobile phones or projected into your living room," said the 58-year-old Australian.
Stelarc - real name Stelios Arcadiou - has made a career flirting with the machine world and modifying his body in ever more bizarre ways.
He is planning to graft an ear onto his arm and has already grown three 'practice' ears in a vat.x
The Screenplay computer gaming festival is free for under-16s.
For those aged 16 and over, a weekend pass costs £10 (£7.50 concessions), or individual events cost £2.
Call 0115 952 6600 for more information.
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