Stelarc
in collaboration with Tissue Culture & Art

What characterises all my recent projects and performances is the concern with the prosthetic. The prosthesis is seen not as a sign of lack, but as a symptom of excess. Rather than replacing a missing or malfunctioning part of the body, these artefacts and interfaces are alternate additions to the body’s form and functions. Third hand (technology attached), Stomach sculpture (technology inserted) and Exoskeleton (technology extending) are different approaches to prosthetic augmentation.

A different strategy is now being pursued. In collaboration with Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr of Tissue Culture & Art, a quarter-scale replica of my ear will be grown using animal cells. The ear is cultured in a rotating micro-gravity bioreactor which allows the cells to grow in a 3D structure. The ear will be fed with nutrients every three to four days in a sterile hood. Contamination is a constraining problem in gallery conditions: Extra ear – 1⁄4 scale can be kept alive only for two weeks of the two-month installation period.

Stelarc
Excerpts from exhibition catalogue

Stelarc
born Cyprus 1946
arrived in Australia 1948
(in collaboration with Tissue Culture & Art)
Extra ear – 1⁄4 scale, 2003
micro-gravity bio-reactor, incubator, polymer resin, wax, DVD projection, mixed media objects and animal cells
installation dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist