Zombies and Cyborgs

Description:

Zombies and Cyborgs was a performance-lecture that discussed the artist Stelarc’s inquiries of the body and technology. It occurred in conjunction with Stelarc’s participation in the exhibition The Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture at the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

The artist posited that the body is an evolutionary architecture that operates and becomes aware in the world. To alter its architecture is to adjust its awareness and that the body has always been a prosthetic body, one augmented by instruments and machines. Exploring the physical and psychological parameters of the body, Stelarc has made his work from the position of an absent or obsolete body.

Stelarc discussed his major performances such as Suspensions, Stomach Sculpture, Exoskeleton, Extra Ear and demonstrated the Third Hand, a robotic prosthetic which he wore during the duration of the lecture. It was capable of grasping and pinching actions and 290° wrist rotation controlled by the electrical signals of muscles. Four volunteers were connected with electrodes to demonstrate the use of muscle stimulation for the remote control and operation of the prosthetic. 

Video documentation available upon request.