Synthetic Self
The chimera of meat, metal, and code
Synthetic Self is a compilation of performances exploring alternative anatomical architectures of human-machine interactive systems. The body can now possess an array of instruments, machines, and computational systems that extend its capabilities. Consequently, the body is not merely a physical entity rooted in a specific setting, but rather a spatially distributed presence.
Interrogating issues of embodiment, agency and identity, these performances expose the problematics of what it means to be a body and to be human. What generates a sense of self in today’s highly mediated machine and computational terrain? How does one understand this new hybrid body? Each performance explores the self as a complex interplay of the social, technological, and cultural—by coupling the body with an industrial robot arm; combining human metabolism with machine musculature; or coalescing the skin as screen.
Medium: Video Compilation
Year: 2015–2020
Team
Stelarc
Artist
Stelarc is a performance artist who has visually probed and acoustically amplified his body. His projects explore alternative anatomical architectures. He has performed with a Third Hand, a Stomach Sculpture, and a 6-legged walking robot. In 2006, an ear was surgically constructed on his arm. In Re-Wired / Re-Mixed (2016), he could only see with the eyes of someone in London, could only hear with the ears of someone in New York, but anyone, anywhere could access his right arm and remotely actuate it. In 2015 he received the Australia Council’s Emerging and Experimental Arts Award. His artwork is represented by Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne.
Related Programmes
Human Psyche / Machine Psyche
Lecture
