fig.[017]_STELARC_thirdHAND
STEL ARC
#1
“The body now inhabits a terrain of speedy, robust and reliable machines, with sensor and computational systems that far exceed our capabilities. The body in its present form and with these present functions is inadequate. Asserting the body is obsolete is not alluding to some kind of disembodied existence. Rather the body’s design is flawed, with slim survival parameters. Our very functions and interactions in the world result in our death. We should consider alternate anatomical architectures. Alter the body’s architecture and you adjust its awareness of the world. Our physiology largely determines our philosophy.” 1 Stelarc‘s works can be described as performative, technological and ambiguous. Throughout his career as an artist and creator, he has visually explored and acoustically amplified his own body. He used a variety of different media to experiment with embodiment/disembodiment. He used prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, the internet and biotechnology to develop intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. His goal has always been to explore alternative anatomical architectures with enlarged and extended body constructions. Although the body seems to be at the centre of all his works, from his use of skin as a sculptural material to his body enlargements, his body does not become a work of art. His approach to art revolves around the idea of „enlarging the body“, both physically and technically. His works are seen as a stepping stone for us to reach a second level of existence, where the body becomes an object for physical and technical experiments to discover its limits. Stelarc‘s body is an impersonal architectural site of redesign and experimentation, a landscape full of potential, ready to be upgraded. He often mentions the term „obsolete body“, and what he means by this is that the body must overcome centuries of prejudice and begin to be seen as an expandable evolutionary structure, improved by a wide variety of technologies.
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