Stelarc

[Mighty_Emperor]

He always seems to have some strange art idea up his sleeve - this is his latest one:

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.

link

Emps

 

[Anonymous]

i saw this bloke perform about 10 years ago in melbourne.

he had electrode things hooked up to his arm...and they were plugged into the computer.

the computer would control his arm.

it was interesting for 10 -15 mins...and then was pretty fucking boring.

very interesting ideas though.

 

[Cider]

He used to be my art teacher when I was at Yokohama International School. That's all I have to contribute really.

 

[Timble2]

Artist has third ear grafted to arm

Van Gogh cut off an ear, this chap had one attached,

It's interesting but is it Eart?

Performer gets third ear for art
An Australian performer who has had an ear grafted onto his forearm in the name of art has sparked controversy.
Cyprus-born Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, says his extra ear, made of human cartilage, is an augmentation of the body's form.

But surgeons questioned whether such an operation should have been carried out, given the absence of clinical need.

A patient who had similar surgery to correct a birth defect said she found the artist's work offensive.

He views this as art but I personally find it offensive
Sasha Gardner, who was born with one ear missing

Stelarc, aged 61, said it had taken him years to find a surgeon prepared to perform the operation.

The ear does not function, but he hopes to have a microphone implanted to allow others to listen to what his extra ear picks up.

He presented his work to a UK audience at Newcastle's Centre for Life.

Art?

Reality TV star and model Sasha Gardner was born with one ear missing and recently took the first steps to have plastic surgery to rebuild the ear.

She said: "He views this as art but I personally find it offensive. It is a very sensitive subject for a lot of people.

"This is not something people should be using as an expression of art. It shows a lack of understanding."

Mr Francis Wells is a surgeon at Papworth Hospital who has helped an artist make a map of "The Sonic Body", by revealing its sounds, from veins to organs and muscles.

He said: "This will provoke a reaction. I would not condemn him for it, but it could cause some people distress.

"There are a lot of people who have lost an ear in an accident who cannot easily have that ear replaced. This type of reconstruction is expensive."

Mr David Gault, consultant plastic surgeon and member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said surgery is normally performed for obvious clinical or psychological benefit.

"Patients have had ears moved onto the forearm and then grafted on to the head before, so this is not something that is technically new.

"It is also possible that the publicity will do some good - if it prompts patients who are missing an ear to seek help that they had not realised was available."




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/h ... 039821.stm

Published: 2007/10/11 14:49:33 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[AMPHIARAUS]

Re: Artist has third ear grafted to arm

Performer gets third ear for art

A patient who had similar surgery to correct a birth defect said she found the artist's work offensive.

My brother has a need for surgery on his pinna. While growing help was witheld as he wasn't ready, and now the problem is funding as its cosmetic.

As art its pretty poor. I mean really WTF can you read into it thats anything less than overly self indulgent 'artist'

If he'd given the money to my Brother (or other) for corrective surgery at least one person would have been truly truly happy as opposed to a select handful who were amused for five seconds

 

[Rrose_Selavy]

Every so often the tedious self indulgent self styled "stelarc" comes up with some underwhelming attempt to mix man and machine, or in this case, flesh and more flesh, adding little to art or science.

Expect another headline making gimmick in a few more years time.