Born Stelios Arcadiou in Cyprus, Stelarc grew up in Australia. At age 26, he had his name legally changed to Stelarc. When he didn't meet course requirements at art school he was kicked out, which thankfully set Stelarc on his current trajectory. Since then he has used robotics, medical instruments, virtual reality, prosthetics, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. He has acoustically and visually prodded and poked the body, having amplified brainwaves, blood-flow and muscle signals and filmed the inside of his lungs, stomach and colon. Along side this he has also performed 25 body suspensions with hooks inserted into his skin, in different positions and varying situations. He has performed with a Third Hand, a Virtual Arm, a Virtual Body, an inserted Stomach Sculpture and Exoskeleton and a six-legged walking machine.
Now he is Professor Stelarc, Distinguished Research Fellow at the School of Design and Art at Curtin University Perth, Australia.
Ear on Arm is Stelarc’s longest performance, which so far has involved two surgeries. It took him 10 years to find surgeons that agreed to his surreal proposal. The first surgery, in 2006, consisted of implanting a skin expander to create excess skin that could accommodate the ear.
“There were several serious problems that occurred: a necrosis during the skin expansion process necessitated excising it and rotating the position of the ear around the arm,” the artist states on his website.
"At present it's only a relief of an ear, when the ear becomes a more 3-D structure we'll reinsert the small microphone that connects to a wireless transmitter." In any Wi-Fi hotspot, he said, it will become internet-enabled. "So if you're in San Francisco and I'm in London, you'll be able to listen in to what my ear is hearing, wherever you are and wherever I am."
Stelarc's art is undeniably confrontational, often pushing viewers out of their comfort zones and forcing them to confront their own ideas of identity, embodiment, and technological advancement. By placing the human body in unconventional contexts and subjecting it to technological interventions, Stelarc invites us to reconsider what it means to be human in an ever-evolving world.
In a world that is constantly changing and evolving, artists like Stelarc remind us of the importance of embracing uncertainty and pushing the boundaries of our imagination. Through his daring experiments and thought-provoking performances, Stelarc challenges us to confront the complexities of human existence and to envision a future where art, technology, and humanity are inexorably intertwined....and he's got a fuckin' ear on his arm for god's sake.
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