Australian performance artist Stelarc has two functioning ears, but he’s growing a third ear on his arm. Why?
It’s all in the name of art. The process involved a complicated surgery; first the ear was constructed from a bio-compatible material then transplanted under the skin on Stelarc’s arm.
Within six months the tissue and blood vessels in his arm morphed with the material. The artist explained his future plans for this new ear to OddityCentral:
“He plans to make it more three-dimensional by using his own stem cells to develop a proper external ear lobe. Then, he wants to implant a Wi-Fi enabled microphone in it. The mic will be permanently activated, so people from around the world can ‘tune in’ to him and listen to whatever he’s hearing.”
CNN reports that this is not the award-winning artist’s first attempt at fusing human physiology with technology, “He has long used his own body to explore people’s changing relationship with technology, from putting cameras in his lungs, colon and stomach, performing with a third hand and having himself hung nak*d from a ceiling with hooks.”
Stelarc explains that the he has particular interest in the idea of cyborgs, he told CNN, “What it means to be human will not be determined any longer merely by your biological structure but perhaps also determined largely by all of the technology that’s plugged or inserted into you.”
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