THE INVASION OF TECHNOLOGY

 

Stelarc, Melbourne 1995

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Miniaturised and biocompatible technology lands on the body. Although unheralded, it is one of the most important event in human history - focusing physical change on each individual. Technology is not only attached, but is also implanted. ONCE A CONTAINER, TECHNOLOGY NOW BECOMES A COMPONENT OF THE BODY. As an instrument, technology fragmented and depersonalised experience as a component it has the potential to SPLIT THE SPECIES. It is no longer of any advantage to remain "human" or to evolve as a species. EVOLUTION ENDS WHEN TECHNOLOGY INVADES THE BODY. Once technology provides each person with the potential to progress individually in its development, the cohesive-ness of the species is no longer important. What is now intriguing is not the mind-body distraction but the body-species split. The body must burst from its biological, cultural and planetary containment. The significance of technology may be that it culminates in an alien awareness - one that is POST-HISTORIC, TRANS-HUMAN and even EXTRATERRESTRIAL. The first signs of an alien intelligence may well come from this planet.

 

HOLLOW BODY / SOLAR SKIN

Off the earth, the body's complexity, softness and wetness would be difficult to sustain. The strategy should be HOLLOW, HARDEN and DEHYDRATE the body to make it more durable and less vulnerable. The present organisation of the body is unnecessary. The solution to modifying the body is not to be found in its internal structure, but lies simply on the surface. THE SOLUTION IS NO MORE THAN SKIN DEEP. The significant event in our evolutionary history was a change in the mode of locomotion. Future development will occur with a change of skin. If we could engineer a SYNTHETIC SKIN which could absorb oxygen directly through its pores and could efficiently convert light into chemical nutrients, we could radically redesign the body, eliminating many of its redundant systems and malfunctioning organs - minimising toxin build-up in its chemistry. THE HOLLOW BODY WOULD BE A BETTER HOST FOR TECHNOLOGICAL COMPONENTS.

 

 

NO BIRTH / NO DEATH - THE HUM OF THE HYBRID

Technology transforms the nature of human existence, equalising the physical potential of bodies and standardising human sexuality. With fertilisation now occurring outside the womb and the possibility of nurturing the foetus in an artificial support system THERE WILL TECHNICALLY BE NO BIRTH. And if the body can be redesigned in a modular fashion to facilitate the replacement of malfunctioning parts, then TECHNICALLY THERE WOULD BE NO REASON FOR DEATH - given the accessibility of replacements. Death does not authenticate existence. It is an outmoded evolutionary strategy. The body needs no longer be repaired but simply have parts replaced. Extending life no longer means "existing" but rather of being "operational". Bodies need nor age or deteriorate; the would not run down or fatigue; they would stall and start - possessing both the potential for renewal and reactivation. In the extended space-time of extraterrestrial environments, THE BODY MUST BECOME IMMORTAL TO ADAPT. Utopian dreams become post evolutionary imperatives. THERE IS NO MERE FAUSTIAN OPTION NOR SHOULD THERE BE ANY FRANKENSTEINIAN FEAR IN TAMPERING WITH THE BODY.

 

DESCRIPTION OF VIDEOTAPE CONTENTS

The 30 min. performances have been edited down to 4 min. each, The selected sections indicate the actual video switching by the body gestures. Cameras were positioned around the body and on the robot. What is seen is the live composing of images during the performance on the video screen which is positioned either beside or above the body. At the event itself, there is also the interplay between the physical body with its robot technology and its video and virtual images.

 

EDITED EVENTS

"GRAFT/REPLICATE: Event for Virtual Arm and Third Hand' 15 July 1992 - The Great Australian Science Show, Melbourne.

"SCAN/SIGNAL: Event for Strong Arm and Surveillance Systems" 4 March 1993 - Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City

"ACTUATE/ROTATE: Event for Virtual Body and Third Hand' 1 April 1993 - Le Corps amplifie; Obscure, Quebec City.

"PSYCHO/CYBER: Event for Laser Eyes and Scanning Robot" S, 6May 1993 - Muumedia Festival, Helsinki.

 

EVENT ELEMENTS

 

VIRTUAL ARM - A computer generated arm interactively controlled by a pair of Data Gloves - the right glove for mimicking motions; the left glove, using a gesture recognition command language, provides extended capabilities such as mutating (altering its surface rendering), stretching (all its limb segments simultaneously) and grafting (attaching extra hands to the Virtual Arm).

VIRTUAL BODY - A computer generated body interactively controlled by an 8 polbemus sensor capture system. The sensors, which measure position/orientation are attached to the head, back, hips and limb extremities. Virtual camera views are mapped to the ama motions. Lifting the left arm alters the Virtual Body image from low to high views. Sweeping the right arm 900 moves the virtual camera around 300 in effect rotating the Virtual Body on its axis

ROBOT MANIPULATOR - The IRB 2000 was programmed to scan and move around the body, with a camera attached at the end of its arm. Rectangular Coordinates, Robot Coordinates and Tool Centre-point motions were coded. Using the serial ports of its computer controller, the body could control the speed of the robot's program, with a position sensor on the right arm.

STRONG ARM - A hydraulic lifting arm, connected to the body, supporting some of its weight and determining the constraints of the body's movements - providing the push and pull parameters of the body-machine relationship.

THE THIRD HAND - Attached to the right arm, it is capable of independent motion, being activated by EMG signals from the abdominal and leg muscles. A contact microphone amplifies the motor sounds of the pinch, grasp and wrist rotation motions.

INVOLUNTARY ARM - Using 2 muscle stimulaters to apply voltage to the flexor and bicep muscles, the left arm is involuntarily jerked up and down - bending the wrist, curling the fingers and bending the elbow

AMPLIFIED BODY - EEG (brainwaves), ECG (heartbeat), EMO (muscles) and Doppler Ultrasound (bloodflow) signals are acoustically amplified. A Kinetic-Angle Transducer monitors bending motion of the leg and mercury sensors act as position indicators to provide some cues as the arms are lifted. The sounds are orchestrated by both physiological control and electronic manipulation.

INTERACTIVE VIDEO - Mercury sensors on the arms and head allow the body to become the video switcher of an array of cameras positioned around and above it. The body can also switch between the camera on the scanning robot and the Virtual Arm of Virtual Body. These images can be composed and choreographed live during the performance and projected onto a large video screen - switched singly, superimposed or juxtaposed in split-screen configurations.

 

THERE IS AN ATTEMPT

TO CONNECT GESTURE

WITH SOUND, MOTION

AND IMAGE

- THE BODY ORCHESTRATING

ITS AMPLIFIED SIGNALS,

CHOREOGRAPHING ITS

VIRTUAL AND

ROBOT SYSTEMS

AND COMPOSING

THE VIDEO EFFECTS THROUGH SENSORS

ON ITS ARMS AND HEAD.

THERE IS AN INTERFACE

AND INTERPLAY BETWEEN HUMAN, COMPUTER AND ROBOT.

THE BODY IS EXTENDED

INTO A CYBER-SYSTEM

WHERE ITS PERFORMANCE

IS NOT LIMITED

TO ITS MERE PHYSIOLOGY OR EVEN THE LOCAL SPACE

IT OCCUPIES.

THE QUESTION IS WHETHER

THE BODY CAN COPE WITH

THE TECHNOLOGICAL

COMPLEMTY AND WHETHER THIS

HUMAN-MACHlNE COUPLING

GENERATES ALTERNATE

AESTHETIC POSSIBILITIES...

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