Stelarc: artist or cyborg?

In the name of art, Australian performer Stelarc has hung himself from buildings, created prosthetic arms, hooked his own muscle movements up to a computer programme and swallowed a robot sculpture that filmed his insides. To open the 2011 Kinetica Art Fair, he will appear as an avatar in Second Life and as a computer-generated talking hologram. If that wasn't strange enough, he often refers to himself as 'we'…

When did you cease to be Stelios Arcadiou and become Stelarc?

'I legally changed my name in 1972. So Stelarc has been on my passport, driver's licence and credit cards for the last 38 years.'

You talk about the body being obsolete, but have you yet found a use for the extra ear you had implanted in your arm in 2006?

'The “Extra Ear on Arm” project is still a work in progress, as it's partly surgically constructed and partly cell-grown. The ear construct is firmly fixed in place and has its own blood supply but we still need to grow a soft earlobe using my stem cells. During the second surgery we had a small microphone implanted, which had to be extracted after two weeks because of infection. The idea is to reinsert the mic and connect it to the internet via wi fi, so that the ear will become a hearing device for people in other places.'

Was that the last time you did any real self-modification and how far would you go to experiment with your own body?

Well, these projects - “The Third Hand”, “The Extended Arm”, “Exoskeleton” - should not be seen as body modification, but as body augmentation . As for any limits of experimentation, it is not about simply transgressing boundaries but rather actualising ideas. Sometimes these ideas are physically difficult, sometimes technically challenging.'

How could the human body evolve to help it function better in our increasingly technological world?

'Evolution, in the Darwinian sense occurs over millions of years, with random mutations and with natural selection. The exponentional development of computational devices, robotics, genetic engineering and virtual systems means the human body will be augmented and extended with alternate anatomical architectures in hundreds rather than millions of years.'

How long before you can clone yourself? Would you prefer future Stelarcs to be biological or robotic twins?

'As an artist I'm interested in plausible ideas so that I can experience them directly. Cloning myself isn't an option. Engineering an extra ear is.'

For your performances at Kinetica you will be appearing simultaneously on stage and in virtual reality. How will we be able to interact?

'The audience will be able to interrogate the “Prosthetic Head”. We are using the Musion 3D projection system to display the head as a floating hologram complete with facial expressions scripted to particular responses.'

You are a visiting professor here in London, so are there any budding young prodigies out there?

'I'm Chair in Performance Art at Brunel University where I have some PhD students, take occasional classes and do my own research. I try to develop students' interest in performance, interactive media and digital arts and encourage them to develop their own ideas and practice, rather than imposing my practice on them.'

Can you describe how your early 'Suspension' performances - in which you would hang your naked body at great heights, using just rope and meat hooks - were received at the time? Were they seen as self-harm or sculpture?

'There were 27 body suspensions in varying positions, in differing locations and situations. Most of them were done in private; very few were public. I guess the “Suspension” performances were seen by some as self-harm, but I've had more medical problems playing squash. I do have a scar on my left leg from my knee to my ankle when I awkwardly slipped over a concrete barrier at the Art Gallery of Vancouver. Art can be dangerous but in unexpected ways.'

How has the art world treated you? Has it taken you seriously?

'It's not a matter of being taken seriously or not but rather that you feel that what you are meaningfully contributing as an artist. And that means generating unexpected ideas and images. I guess the Ars Electronica Hybrid Arts Award last year was an acknowledgement in media arts practice that some of what I do is interesting.'

Is there ever a spiritual element to your work?

'None at all. The more performances I do the less I think I have a mind of my own in the traditional metaphysical sense.'

Who is your favourite on-screen man-machine hybrid? Terminator, iRobot, or the Six Million Dollar Man, perhaps?
'Scifi cyborgs are just dystopian bodies with amplified human pathologies in catastrophic futures. I am much more enamoured with the replicants in “Blade Runner”.'

Stelarc will be performing 'Rotating Brains and Beating Hearts' on Thur Feb 3 and 'The Prosthetic Head' on Fri Feb 4 and Sun Feb 6 at the Kinetica Art Fair, which takes place from Feb 3-6 2011 at Ambika P3