Stelarc

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Stelarc with the performance project "Scale Ear" (2006)

Stelarc (actually Stelios Arcadiou ; * 1946 in Limassol ) is a Cypriot-Australian media and performance artist. He studied at Monash University and Melbourne University . Stelarc has been dealing with the relationship between man and machine for around 30 years. His performances and interfaces focus on the human body and the relationship to technology. He experiments with prosthetics , robotics , virtual reality systems and also with the internet .

philosophy

Man and his body are dependent on numerous external factors in their actions and are determined by them. Only when the body fails does a person become aware of it. In order to compensate for this imperfection of the body, he has always equipped himself with assistive technology. It is the underlying technology that makes people unique. Stelarc uses technology as a means to expand and develop one's own body, or builds technology into the body. The prosthesis is not a substitute for faulty body parts, but strengthens the body's functions. The human body as a whole has become obsolete. The development of humans is moving towards the cyborg , a human-machine hybrid . The cyborg's body consists of a system of bodies, organic and technical components. For Stelarc, the soul or spirit of a person is just a cultural construct. The personality of the individual is determined by the interaction with others. It is only through the interaction that people's ideas are carried outwards and this in turn creates a system of components, individuals. Stelarc translates this philosophy of physiology into reality in his performances, working with his own body.

Performances

"Stomach Sculpture"
Stelarc in Montreal (2010)

Stelarc works in parallel on various ideas and projects, repeatedly testing the physical limits of his body.

In the suspension action " suspension " he tries, even if only visually, to override the laws of gravity. He pierced his skin with hooks and let himself be lifted into the air by them. He carried out these actions several times in different places and with different hanging structures. The skin expands as a result of the piercing. It is no longer the limit of the self. The curvature of the skin created by hanging it on the hook visualize the laws of gravity.

In the performances “Fractal Flesh”, “Ping Body” or “Parasite” people lose control of their own body. This is controlled by external agents, for example via a touch screen, via the response times of the ping protocol or via information from the Internet. Stelarc describes this experience as " movement without memory and without desire ".

With “Parasite” Stelarc constructs a virtual nervous system, generated from images from the Internet. The images are projected onto the body and at the same time cause muscle stimulation. This creates a contradicting, at the same time passive and active, relationship to this information.

In “Stomach Sculpture”, Stelarc worked on the body as a hollow shape. In doing so, he penetrates the inside of the body and inserts his work of art into the body. A capsule is placed in his stomach. The capsule emits light and sounds that can be made visible and audible through an endoscope . He intervenes in his body, not as a prosthesis or for medical purposes, but as an aesthetic work.

“Third Hand” puts a third hand on the body, which can be controlled via the muscles of the legs.

“Scale Ear” is supposed to create a third ear on the artist's arm. This soft prosthesis is grown from human cells. A partial form of life could thus be integrated into the body and thus question its wholeness. This ear should not be able to hear itself, but instead should produce sounds.

“Prosthetic Head” works without a physical body. A virtual 3-D head embodies an agent whose job it is to engage the viewer in a conversation. The head, equipped with real-time lip-syncing and speech synthesis , refers to the idea of ​​consciousness and identity and faces 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
  • Url body
  • Third hand
  • Robot arm
  • Virtual arm
  • Stimbod
  • Stomach Sculpture
  • Virtual body
  • suspension
  • Amplified body

Awards

  • 1995: Research Fellowship, Visual Arts / Craft Board, the Australia Council
  • 1997: Honorary Professor at Carnegie Mellon University for Art and Robotics, Pittsburgh
  • 1998: Artist in Residence for the City of Hamburg
  • 2000: Honorary Degree of Laws, Monash University
  • 2003: Artist in Residence, Faculty of Art and Design, Ohio State University, Columbus
  • 2006: Research Fellow, Performance Arts Digital Research Department, Nottingham Trent University
  • 2010: Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the "Hybrid Art" category, Linz, Austria.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GOLDEN NICA 2010: HYBRID ART Ars Electronica

Web links

Commons : Stelarc  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Stelarc
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arcadiou, Stelios (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cypriot-Australian media and performance artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Limassol