Stelarc: The Human Body is Obsolete Stelarc: The Human Body is Obsolete

The performance artist​ Stelarc experiments on his own body using physical, visual and acoustic means, including a third ear and an external skeleton. The artist gave a public lecture on his work, followed by a seminar. The Biodesign curator William Myers and the philosopher Henk Oosterling contributed.

Stelarc has earned living legend status by physically trying, visually probing, acoustically amplifying and surgically manipulating his own body. His wide-ranging oeuvre consists of medical instrumentation, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, and three films that explore the inside of his body. In his work, Stelarc frequently uses the internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body, moving on the edge of what most accept as the limits of human possibilities. At present, Stelarc is surgically constructing an extra ear on his arm that will be Internet-enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustic organ for people in other places.

Although Stelarc's performances are moreover exceptionally spectacular, they are always conceptually rooted in his strong convictions about the relationship between the human body and technology and they unfailingly enrich our understanding of ourselves in relation to the world. Stelarc is currently Chair in Performance Art, School of Arts, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK and Distinguished Research Fellow, School of Design & Art, Curtin University Perth.Although Stelarc's performances are moreover exceptionally spectacular, they are always conceptually rooted in his strong convictions about the relationship between the human body and technology and they unfailingly enrich our understanding of ourselves in relation to the world. Stelarc is currently Chair in Performance Art, School of Arts, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK and Distinguished Research Fellow, School of Design & Art, Curtin University Perth.

William Myers** **teaches and writes about the history of architecture and design. He is author of 'BioDesign: Nature + Science + Creativity', on which the exhibition is based. The book was published in 2012 by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Thames & Hudson in London. Myers has worked with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Genspace.

Henk Oosterling is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Among his many books are 'Door schijn bewogen. Naar een hypokritiek van de xenofobe rede' (Kok Agora, 1996), 'Chaos ex machina: Het ecosofisch werk van Félix Guattari op de kaart gezet' (CFKj1, 1998), 'Radicale middelmatigheid' (Boom, 2000), and 'Intermedialities: Philosophy, Arts, Politics' (Lexington Books, 2011). Oosterling is also initiator and director of Rotterdam Skillcity, a bottom-up intervention project for urban revitalisation and educational renovation focused on the social-cultural and socio-economic aspects of a 21st century craftsmanship in Rotterdam. His latest books, 'Woorden als daden' (JapSam Books, 2009) and 'Doendenken' (JapSam Books, 2013), describe the projects and philosophy of 'Rotterdam Skillcity'. In 2008, he received the 'Laurenspenning' for his important role in, and contribution to, social and cultural life in Rotterdam. In 2013 he was awarded with the Van Praag Prijs for his whole oeuvre.

The lecture on October 24th and the seminar on October 25th were organised by The New Institute and the Centre for Art and Philosophy (Erasmus University Rotterdam). In cooperation with ISEA-NL, SG Erasmus and V2' Institute for Unstable Media.