Stelarc (born Στέλιος Αρκαδίου ''Stelios Arcadiou'' in

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

in 1946; legally changed his name in 1972) is a

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

-born

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist raised in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of Sunshine, whose works focus heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centered on his concept that "the human body is obsolete". Until 2007 he held the position of principal research fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He is currently furthering his research at Curtin University in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Performances

Stelarc conference Montréal (5103983046)

Stelarc's idiosyncratic performances often involve

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

or other relatively modern technology integrated with his body. In 26 different performances he has suspended himself in flesh hook suspension, often with one of his robotic inventions integrated. His last suspension performance was held in Melbourne in March 2012. In another performance he allowed his body to be controlled remotely by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet. He has also performed with a robotic third arm, and a pneumatic spider-like six-legged walking machine which sits the user in the center of the legs and allows them to control the machine through arm gestures. In 2020, a work by Stelarc entitled ''Reclining Stickman'', a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

sculpture operated by the artist, featured in the

Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). However, AGSA had to temporarily close from 25 March 2020 owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

, so some of the exhibits are being shown online, along with virtual tours of the exhibition. Stelarc performed with his sculpture in real time, as well as making the videorecording available.

Third ear

In 2007, Stelarc had a cell-cultivated ear surgically attached to his left arm. His longtime collaborator, fellow Australian artist

Nina Sellars Nina Sellars is an artist and Research Fellow at the Alternate Anatomies Lab, School of Design & Art, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Sellars describes her artwork as focused on "human anatomy and its symbiotic history with arts and techn ...

, photographed this

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many so ...

for her piece ''Oblique: Images from Stelarc's Extra Ear Surgery''. Pieces by both artists were included in a group exhibition that received an exhibition review in scientific journal BMJ.

Works

In 2005,

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

published ''Stelarc: The Monograph'' which is the first extensive study of Stelarc's prolific work. It includes images of performances and interviews with several writers including

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...

, who recount their meetings with Stelarc. In 201
book
on Robots and Art Stelarc reflected on his own work in a chapter titled "Encounters, Anecdotes and Insights—Prosthetics, Robotics and Art".

Awards and honors

* In 1995 Stelarc was awarded a three-year fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts. * In 1997 Carnegie Mellon University appointed him Honorary Professor of Art and Robotics. * In 1998 he was artist-in-residence for the city of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. * In 2000

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

awarded him an Honorary Degree of Laws. * In March 2003, at The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, he completed an artist-in-residence program. * In 2008 he was appointed as senior research fellow and artist-in-residence, MARCS Auditory Laboratories, University of Western Sydney, Australia. * In 2010 Stelarc received the prestigious Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the category "Hybrid Art", Linz, Austria.GOLDEN NICAS & GRANT 2010
Ars Electronica

References

External links

Stelarc's - homepage

- Stelarc's old homepage at Virtual Artists
* {{Authority control 1946 births Australian conceptual artists Australian contemporary artists Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Australian performance artists Australian roboticists Australian transhumanists BioArtists Body art Cypriot emigrants to Australia Living people People known for their body modification Philosophers of art Philosophers of science Philosophers of technology Postmodern artists Robotic art People from Sunshine, Victoria