Stelarc is a performance artist who combines the human body with art and technology. Some of his projects include attaching a mechanical third hand to his arm, creating an exoskeleton that allows him to walk spider-like, implanting an "extra ear" and moving a natural ear from his head to his arm. His goal is to use technology to extend the functions of the human body beyond its natural abilities.

1. STELARC
The body, art and technology
presentation by Heather Bright

2. Stelarc as an Artist
 Performance artist who combines the body with
art and technology
 Has had exhibitions and performances since
1980’s

3. Projects
 3rd hand
 Exoskeleton
 Extra ear
 Ear on Arm
 Prosthetic Head

4. 3rd Hand
 Completed in 1980
 Mechanical hand
attached to right arm
 Can pinch, grab, and
rotate the wrist
 Controlled by signals
from his muscles
 Touch-sensitive finger
pads

6. Exoskeleton
 6-legged spider-like walking machine
 Can move forward, back, sideways and turns
 Also squats and lifts
 The body is in the middle of the machine on a
turn table for rotating
 Kind of like Doc Oc from Spiderman…

8. Extra Ear
 Original plan was to put it in
front of the right ear, but it
was not safe with the facial
nerves and jaw bone there.
 Had idea that the ear could
emit sound. When someone
gets close, a chip could have
it talk, or even play sounds
that the other ears hear.
 Would take 8-10 months

9. Ear on Arm
 On inner forearm
 Microphone placed inside ear, but had to take
it out because of infection
 Final procedure will reimplant microphone to
let people hear what the ear hears through
wireless internet
 Takes a part of the body, puts it somewhere
else and makes it do other things
 Use technology to extend the body’s
functions

11. Prosthetic Head
 3D avatar head with lip-synching, speech, and
facial expressions
 Interactive
 Vision system to detect colors a person is
wearing and analyzes the person’s behavior
to make conversation more convincing
 As the head learns more and increases its
database, the artist is no longer in control of
what it says

13.  Stelarc’s main
interest is to use
technology to add to
the human body, to
extend its functions
beyond what it can
naturally do.
Kind of like this, only a
little more intense