LABORATORIA Art&Science Space, along with international institutions in the field of art and science, presented the global première of Stelarc, legendary Australian cyberpunk artist. Russian visitors of the exhibition, along with an audience from the different countries had the unique opportunity to test a communication line through which the owner of the THIRD EAR plans to communicate with the world.

For thirty years, Stelarc has systematically tested the “limits of human body – its genetic repertoire and structure-forming characteristics” in his works. In the 1960s, he performed extreme experiments on his own body and in the 1980s switched to interpreting the human body as an extended techno-biological structure. In 2006, driven and inspired by developing technologies, Stelarc decided to radically improve his appearance.

In addition to a series of existing exoprosthetics, plastic surgeons have fused an additional ear onto the artist’s arm (The Third Ear project). The ear itself is not able to hear, but with a miniature microphone implanted connected to a Bluetooth transmitter, it serves as a sort of internet-antenna. According to the author’s concept, the Third Ear is an organ for public access: it can listen to everybody wherever they are and wherever the artist is.

In the 1960s, he performed extreme experiments on his own body and in the 1980s switched to interpreting the human body as an extended techno-biological structure.

One of the tasks of the project stage (The Internet-Ear installation) is testing the potential of the Worldwide Web using a cybernetic system as a nerve centre. Anatomical models of the artist’s arm, embedded with electronics, were installed in the exhibition areas of leading research institutions in the field of art and science including the following: Utzon Centre (Aalborg, Denmark), Copenhagen Institute of Technology – CIT (Copenhagen, Denmark), KUNSTEN – Museum of Modern Art (Aalborg, Denmark) and La Cantine Gallery (Paris, France).

These copies of The Third Ear, interacting with their organic double via the Internet, connected audiences from different countries together. The Third Ear were able to hear visitor’s voices and show recognized text on screens in other museums and galleries worldwide. The result was a looping cacophony of modulated voices and parallel audio waves ebbing and flowing in density and intensity over different time zones.

STELARC

(1946, Melbourne, Australia)

Artist, researcher and legendary representative of the international cyberpunk art. Stelarc achieved universal fame for his main works – series of extreme experiments on his own body (public surgical operations, gastroscopy, body-suspension, etc.) and creation of techno-biological prosthetics – Third Hand Project (1976-1981), Exoskeleton (1998), Prosthetic Head (2003) and The Third Ear (2003). He participated in numerous solo exhibitions, presentations and performances in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Honorary Professor of Art and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA) and Monash University (Monash, Australia). Stelarc lives and works in Australia and Great Britain.