http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neil_Harbisson_Cyborg.jpg
Neil Harbisson (27 July 1982)[5] is a Catalan raised, Northern Ireland born artist, musician and performer best known for his self-extended ability to hear colors and to perceive colors that overstep the bounds of human vision.[6] In 2004 he became the first person in the world to wear an eyeborg.[7] The inclusion of the eyeborg on his passport photo has been claimed by some to be official recognition of Harbisson as acyborg.[8] Color and the use of technology as an extension of the performer, and not as part of the performance, are the central themes in Harbisson's work. In 2010, he founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization to help humans become cyborgs.[9]
Early life
Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia, a condition that only allows him to see in black and white. He grew up in Mataró (Spain) where he studied music, dance and drama[10] at various schools.[11] He began to compose piano pieces at the age of 11.[12] At school, classmates thought he was just being lazy every time he asked one of them to pass the red paint in an art class, or pick out a blue pen. He dressed exclusively in black and white. "What was the point in wearing something I couldn't appreciate?" he asks.[13] At the age of 16 he started studying Fine Art at Institut Alexandre Satorras, where he was given special permission to use only black, white and gray colors in his works. Harbisson's early works are all in black and white.[14]
In May 2001, he gained media attention in Spain after climbing on a tree to save three trees from being cut in the center of Mataró.[15] Harbisson lived on the tree for several days,[16] and was supported by over 3,000 people who signed a petition to maintain the trees.[17] After days of protest, the city hall announced the trees would not be cut.[18]
Harbisson moved to Ireland in September 2001 to finish his piano studies at Dublin's "Walton's New School of Music". In 2002 he moved to England to study Music Composition at Dartington College of Arts.[19]
The Eyeborg
Main article: Eyeborg
In October 2003 in his second year at Dartington College of Arts, Harbisson attended a lecture on cybernetics, particularly on sensory extensions via cybernetics, given by Adam Montandon, a Plymouth University student. Neil found this of immense interest and at the end of the lecture he went up to Adam to explain his condition. From that moment they started working on the eyeborg project.[20]
The eyeborg works with a head mounted camera that picks up the colors directly in front of a person, and converts them in real-time into sound waves.[21] Neil memorised the frequencies related to each colour: high frequency hues are high-pitched, while low frequency hues sound bolder. In Vienna, they co-presented their Eyeborg project, one of more than 400 entries from 29 different countries, and won the Europrix Award in Content Tools and Interface Design (2004), as well as the Innovation Award (Submerge, Bristol 2004).
In 2007, while hitch-hiking around Europe, Harbisson met Peter Kese in Ljubljana, a software developer from Kranj, Slovenia. Kese offered to develop the eyeborg even further so that Harbisson could perceive color saturation and not only color hues. After a few weeks he had developed a new eyeborg model that allowed Harbisson to perceive up to 360 different hues through microtones and saturation through different volume levels.[22]
Cyborg status
In 2004, Harbisson was not allowed to renew his UK passport because his passport photo was rejected. The passport office would not allow Harbisson to appear with electronic equipment on his head. Harbisson wrote back to them insisting that the eyeborg should be considered part of his body as he had become a cyborg. Letters from his doctor, friends and his college were sent to the passport office to give him support. After weeks of correspondence Harbisson's prosthetic device was included.[24] Harbisson states that he became a cyborg when the union between his organism and cybernetics created new neuronal tissue in his brain that allowed him to perceive color through a new sense: "It's not the union between the eyeborg and my head what converts me into a cyborg but the union between the software and my brain".[25]
Cyborg Foundation
In 2010, Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas created the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization to help humans become cyborgs.[26] The foundation was created as a response to the growing amount of letters and emails received from people around the world interested in becoming a cyborg.[27] The foundation's main aims are to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body, to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events and to defend cyborg rights.[28] In 2010, the foundation, based in Mataró (Barcelona), was the overall winner of the Cre@tic Awards, organized by Tecnocampus Mataró.[29]
Stelarc
Stelarc is an Australian performance artist who uses his body with technology as an architectural structure. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, initimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. He has created a robotic hand which is attached to his right arm, known as 'Third Hand'. It is not permanently attached to him but while it is on, it is controlled by EMG signals from electrodes positioned on four sites on the abdominal and leg muscles - contracting the appropriate muscles, made different mechnical hand motions. Another one of his projects muscle stimulating electrodes along with his Third Hand being controlled by online Internet users. Values are gathered from the users activity and caused areas of Stelarc's body to move. Most recently he has expanded the skin on his arm to allow for another ear to be inserted. He has hooked up a mini microphone which was tested successfully after the sugery and plans to have it hooked up to the Internet so people can hear the noises from where he is by just going online.
Knowing that Stelarc has such cyborg like qualities about him, most would think he is in fact a cyborg. However I believe him to be an artist. He is not uses them to help improve his everyday life or make him superhuman. He wants people to observe his work -that of the performance art - and he wants people to interact with his work - that of the internet work.
Stelarc
Stelarc is an Australian performance artist who uses his body with technology as an architectural structure. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, initimate and involuntary interfaces with the body. He has created a robotic hand which is attached to his right arm, known as 'Third Hand'. It is not permanently attached to him but while it is on, it is controlled by EMG signals from electrodes positioned on four sites on the abdominal and leg muscles - contracting the appropriate muscles, made different mechnical hand motions. Another one of his projects muscle stimulating electrodes along with his Third Hand being controlled by online Internet users. Values are gathered from the users activity and caused areas of Stelarc's body to move. Most recently he has expanded the skin on his arm to allow for another ear to be inserted. He has hooked up a mini microphone which was tested successfully after the sugery and plans to have it hooked up to the Internet so people can hear the noises from where he is by just going online.
Knowing that Stelarc has such cyborg like qualities about him, most would think he is in fact a cyborg. However I believe him to be an artist. He is not uses them to help improve his everyday life or make him superhuman. He wants people to observe his work -that of the performance art - and he wants people to interact with his work - that of the internet work.
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