Stelarc

This is a performance where the body's trajectory, velocity and position/orientation in space were choreographed by a 6-degree-of-freedom industrial robot arm operating within a 3m diameter task envelope. The resulting sound of the robot motors registers the kind of movement, acoustically amplifying the choreography. The programming was done offline and then transferred to the robot controller. The performance was done with one of the programmers having his thumb on the kill switch, in case the robot did something unexpectedly. The body and the robot become one interactive and aesthetic operational and performing system. When the choreography was completed, the body was replaced by a large sculpture of his ear. The robot that choreographs the ear is the same robot that carved it. Performance: 29 September, 2015 DeMonstrable exhibition: 3 October - 5 December 2015

This is an interactive, online performance that explores the physiological and aesthetic experience of a fragmented, distributed, de-synchronized, distracted and involuntary body – wired and under surveillance. Wearing a heads-up display, the artist sees with the eyes of someone in London, and hears with the ears of someone in New York, whilst simultaneously, anyone, anywhere can program the exoskeleton with a touch-screen interface and generate involuntary movements of his right arm. The performance was for 5 days, 6 hours a day continuously. His vision was disconnected from his hearing and his arm was disconnected from his intention. It is as if the body has been electronically dismembered, spatially distributed and possessed by multiple agencies. The performance was from 3 -7 August, with the exoskeleton arm being interactive from 31 July – 4 September 2015.

EAR ON ARM SUSPENSION is a performance where the body is suspended above a 4m long sculpture. 16 hooks were inserted along the back of the torso, arms and legs to equally distribute the body’s weight. As it was winched up, the body assumed its full weight, stretching its skin. Because of the braided steel cable untwisting as it assumed the full weight, it begins to untwist and the body begins to spin, first one way and then the other. What was first imagined as a 5-minute performance ended up being 15 minutes. The performance was about a counterpoint in scale. A whole physical body suspended above a larger fragment of the body - the ear on an arm. The body becomes an object in a sculptural installation. The performance began when the body was hoisted off the sculpture and ended when the body touched down.
The 16 stainless steel hooks were inserted whilst the body lay on the Ear On Arm sculpture.
After the cables were connected the body was winched up approximately 50 cm above the sculpture. The body spun one way and then the other for approximately 15 min. When it stopped spinning, and in the correct orientation, the body was then lowered down.
The installation was left in place for the duration of the exhibition with an edited video and an image authenticating the performance. The event was both a looping back to a previous performance strategy and simultaneously a looking forward to the Ear On Arm project, exposing the physicality of both. The performance occurred on Thursday 8 March as part of the SUSPENSIONS exhibition which was from 7-31 March 2012 at SCOTT LIVESEY GALLERIES. Stelarc: “The suspensions are experiments in bodily sensation, expressed in different spaces and in diverse situations. They are not actions for interpretation, nor require any explanation. They are not meant to generate any meaning. Rather they are sites of indifference and states of erasure. The body is empty, absent of its own agency and obsolete". The Exhibition And Performance Was Dedicated To Nobuo Yamagishi, The Director Of The Maki, Tamura And Komai Galleries In Tokyo When Stelarc Lived In Japan. Yamagishi-San Was Admired Both Personally And Professionally. He Is Greatly Missed.

RECLINING STICKMAN is a 9m long robot, actuated by antagonistically bundled pneumatic rubber muscles. Visitors at the AGSA can insert their own choreography from a control panel. Anyone, anywhere at any time can remotely access and actuate the robot. A background algorithm intermittently animates the robot if no one intervenes. The droning motor sounds, the solenoid clicks and the muscles compressing and contracting, extending and exhausting are amplified, registering the limb motions and extending the physical presence of the robot. STELARC performed for 5 hours continuously positioned on the torso of the robot on Saturday 29 Feb 2020, 11.30 am - 4.30 pm. Reclining Stickman was streamed and in exhibition from 29 Feb – 16 August 2020.

(Documentary) Stelarc explains how he has visually probed and acoustically amplified his body. Using medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual Reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology, Stelarc explores Alternative Anatomical Architectures with augmented and extended body constructs.