Stelarc: The Man with Three Ears
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:16 pm
Stelarc is a performance artist who chooses to focus his work on experimenting and enhancing the human body. The Third Ear in particular is an experiment on creating a realistic prosthetic of a human ear on an arm. This would serve nothing more than to have a microphone on your arm that would connect to a server on one's head. Although the functions of the Third Ear is almost equivalent to that of a microphone or AppleWatch, Stelarc uses this experiment to further push the ideas he created in his other experiments involving prosthetics. Other experiments include having a third arm or having an additional 6 legs. The functions of these pieces are not usually to further push the idea that technology exists to serve humanity, however it will allow the user to play with it. Stelarc allows his experiments to be interactive, however it limits its interactivity by having him interact with others while using the mechanical prosthetics. It serves to understand people's conceptual understanding of what options mechanical enhancements would provide for us and what this means for interacting with one another.
Stelarc's Third Eye, as he discusses, is not widely accepted by some individuals as it dances around the border of humanity and machine. This is a discussion on how mechanical prosthetics do serve to assist many in need of its advantages, however there comes a moment where the functions of these prosthetics become abused. Humanity continues to advance its research and investment into artificial intelligence. It seems as though humanity is obsessed with understanding and replicating the complexities of the human body. Things that come from this include the obsession with upgrading and improving on oneself through mechanical attachments to one's bodies. With the quickly advancing stages of technology, mechanical enhancements seem to be likely in the near future. This question on whether or not that is a good thing for our society has been a recurring theme throughout popular sci-fi shows I personally enjoy such as Futurama and Rick and Morty. It seems as though parts of our society is questioning whether or not we are ready or if it necessary to explore the extents of certain parts of technology. Stelarc seems to be pushing these lines for the sake of art and for this reason I chose to explore more of his work with the Third Ear.
https://youtu.be/ZNdV8Ilw9Nc?t=6m59s
Stelarc's Third Eye, as he discusses, is not widely accepted by some individuals as it dances around the border of humanity and machine. This is a discussion on how mechanical prosthetics do serve to assist many in need of its advantages, however there comes a moment where the functions of these prosthetics become abused. Humanity continues to advance its research and investment into artificial intelligence. It seems as though humanity is obsessed with understanding and replicating the complexities of the human body. Things that come from this include the obsession with upgrading and improving on oneself through mechanical attachments to one's bodies. With the quickly advancing stages of technology, mechanical enhancements seem to be likely in the near future. This question on whether or not that is a good thing for our society has been a recurring theme throughout popular sci-fi shows I personally enjoy such as Futurama and Rick and Morty. It seems as though parts of our society is questioning whether or not we are ready or if it necessary to explore the extents of certain parts of technology. Stelarc seems to be pushing these lines for the sake of art and for this reason I chose to explore more of his work with the Third Ear.
https://youtu.be/ZNdV8Ilw9Nc?t=6m59s