Stelarc
Stelarc ( Stelios really Arcadiou; * 1946 in Limassol) is a media and performance artist. He studied at Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Stelarc has been arguing for some 30 years with the relationship between man and machine apart. His performances and interfaces focus the human body and the relationship with technology. He experimented with prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems and the Internet.
Philosophy
Man as well as his body is dependent in its actions by numerous external factors and is determined by them. Only when the body fails, arises when people an awareness of one. To compensate for this imperfection of the body, he gets dressed and has always been with assistive technology. This technology is what makes humans unique. Stelarc uses the technology as a means to enhance one's own body and expand it or build technology into the body. The prosthesis is not a replacement for defective body parts, but enhances the body's functions. The human body as a whole has become obsolete. The evolution of man is towards Cyborg, a man-machine hybrid. The body of the Cyborgs consists of a system of bodies organic and technological components. The soul or spirit of man is only a cultural construct for Stelarc. The personality of the individual is determined by the interaction with others. Only through the interaction of the ideas people are worn out and so, in turn, results in a system of components, individuals. This philosophy of physiology is Stelarc 's performances into reality, working with his own body.
Performances
Stelarc is working in parallel on different ideas and projects, he always tested the physical limits of his body.
In the Aufhängeaktionen " Suspension" he tried, albeit purely visual to repeal the law of gravity. With hook it pierced his skin and was lift it into the air. These actions he performed several times at different places and with different Aufhängekonstruktionen. By piercing the skin undergoes an expansion. She is no longer the limit of the ego. The bulges of the skin, resulting in the hook by the suspension visualize the forces of gravity.
The performances " Fractal Flesh ", " Ping Body " and " Parasite" man loses control of his own body. This is controlled by external agents, such as a touch screen, on the response times of Pingprotokolls or information from the Internet. Stelarc describes this experience as " motion without memory and without desire ."
With " Parasite" Stelarc constructed a virtual nervous system, generated from images from the internet. The images are projected onto the body and cause the same muscle stimulation. The result is a contradictory, simultaneously passive and active, relationship to this information.
The body as a hollow form edits Stelarc in " Stomach Sculpture ". He penetrates into the body and adds his artwork into the body. One capsule is placed in his stomach. The capsule emits light and sounds, which can be made visible and audible through an endoscope. He reaches into his body, not as a prosthesis or for medical purposes, but as an aesthetic work.
"Third hand " is the body of a third hand may be controlled by the muscles of the legs.
"Scale Ear" is to let a third ear on the arm of the artist produced. For human cells, these soft denture is grown. A partial life form could be integrated into the body and thus make its wholeness in question. This ear itself should not be able to hear, but in contrast produce sounds.
" Prosthetic Head " comes from no physical body. A virtual 3D head embodies an agent whose job it is to engage his viewers in a conversation. The head, equipped with real-time lip-synch and speech synthesis, refers to the idea of consciousness and identity is opposite the hollow and incomplete physical body.
List of Performances 1970-2003
- Muscle Machine
- Scale Ear
- Prosthetic Head
- Hexapod
- Alternate interfaces
- Movatar
- Exoskeleton
- Extra Ear
- Parasite
- Ping Body
- Third Hand
- Robot Arm
- Virtual arm
- Stimbod
- Stomach Sculpture
- Virtual Body
- Suspension
- Amplified Body