Presentation by Stelarc (AUS), moderated by William Myers (USA) on Thursday 24 October at 7pm.

"In a time of Circulating Flesh, Fractal Flesh and Phantom Flesh organs are extracted and exchanged, bodies and bits of bodies remotely generate recurring patterns of interactivity and haptic technologies generate potent physical presences of virtual flesh. Bodies are hacked, genes are mapped, prosthetics are attached and chimeras are engineered in labs. The trans-species, the trans-gendered and even the trans-human proliferate".  - Stelarc 

Stelarc is a performance artist who has earned living legend status by physically trying, visually probing, acoustically amplifying and surgically manipulating his own body. His wide-ranging oeuvre consists of medical instrumentation, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, and three films that explore the inside of his body. In his work, Stelarc frequently uses the internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body, moving on the edge of what most accept as the limits of human possibilities. At present, Stelarc is surgically constructing an extra ear on his arm that will be Internet-enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustic organ for people in other places.

Although Stelarc’s performances are moreover exceptionally spectacular, they are always conceptually rooted in his strong convictions about the relationship between the human body and technology and they unfailingly enrich our understanding of ourselves in relation to the world.

Stelarc is currently Chair in Performance Art, School of Arts, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK and Distinguished Research Fellow, School of Design & Art, Curtin University Perth.

Organised by Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Centre for Art and Philosophy (Erasmus University Rotterdam). In cooperation with ISEA-NL, SG Erasmus and V2_  Institute for Unstable Media. 

On October 25th at 2pm there will be a public seminar with Stelarc and Henk Oosterling at Het Nieuwe Instituut.

Admission: EUR 7.50 / free admission for students. Get your ticket
Location:     The New Institute (Auditorium)
Address:     Museumpark 25, Rotterdam
Date:            Thursday 24 October
Time:           8 p.m.
Language:  English