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Stelarc: The Monograph
Stelarc is the most celebrated artist in the world working within technology and the visual arts. He is both an artist and a phenomenon, using his body as medium and exhibition space. Working in the interface between the body and the machine, employing virtual reality, robotics, medical instruments, prosthetics, and the Internet, Stelarc's art includes physical acts that don't always look survivable—or, as science fiction novelist William Gibson puts it in his foreword, "sometimes seem to include the possibility of terminality."
Stelarc's projects include Third Hand , a grasping and wrist rotating mechanism with a rudimentary sense of touch that is attached to the artist and activated by EMG from other body areas; Amplified Body , in which the artist performs acoustically with his brainwaves, muscles, pulse, and blood flow signals; and the Stomach Sculpture , a device—or "aesthetic adornment"—placed in the artist's stomach and presented through video. Works in progress include the Extra Ear Project , a soft prosthesis of skin and cartilage to be constructed on the artist's arm. Stelarc's work both reflects and determines new directions in performance art and body art. Although there have been hundreds of articles written about Stelarc since he began performing in the late 1960s, The Monograph is the first comprehensive study of Stelarc's work practice in over thirty years. Gathering a range of writers who approach the work from a variety of perspectives, it includes William Gibson's account of his meetings with Stelarc, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker's emphatic "WE ARE ALL STELARCS NOW," and Stelarc himself in conversation with Marquard Smith. Taken together, these writers give us a multiplicity of ways to think about Stelarc.
Stelarc's projects include Third Hand , a grasping and wrist rotating mechanism with a rudimentary sense of touch that is attached to the artist and activated by EMG from other body areas; Amplified Body , in which the artist performs acoustically with his brainwaves, muscles, pulse, and blood flow signals; and the Stomach Sculpture , a device—or "aesthetic adornment"—placed in the artist's stomach and presented through video. Works in progress include the Extra Ear Project , a soft prosthesis of skin and cartilage to be constructed on the artist's arm. Stelarc's work both reflects and determines new directions in performance art and body art. Although there have been hundreds of articles written about Stelarc since he began performing in the late 1960s, The Monograph is the first comprehensive study of Stelarc's work practice in over thirty years. Gathering a range of writers who approach the work from a variety of perspectives, it includes William Gibson's account of his meetings with Stelarc, Arthur and Marilouise Kroker's emphatic "WE ARE ALL STELARCS NOW," and Stelarc himself in conversation with Marquard Smith. Taken together, these writers give us a multiplicity of ways to think about Stelarc.
- GenresNonfictionArt
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 6, 2011
Stelarc: the Monnograph is a collection of essays written about the body/technology art installation projects of the artist Stelarc. Jane Goodall looks at the installations in terms of their portrayal of the organic and the possible evolutions of technology. Timothy Druckery takes a media archaeology perspective, using Stelarc's work as a jumping off point to consider various historical relations between humans and our technologies. Arthur and Marilouse Kroker consider, somewhat breathlessly, the science (and science fiction) potential of Stelarc's work. Amelia Jones tackles potential problems with Stelarc's approach, and its potential privileging of the white male body. Brian Massumi argues that the project spans the poles between sensation and thought. Julie Clarke considers Stelarc's use of prosthetics and body extensions, centering her essay around his extended ear project. And finally, in the last chapter, the book's editor, Marquad Smith, interviews Stelarc.
A lot of the essays tend towards hyperbole, but I suppose that such tendencies are to be expected when discussing a man who had himself suspended naked by hooks with his eyes and mouth sewn shut. I enjoyed Amelia Jones' more critical approach, and Julia Clarke's essay was a good in-depth examination (not coincidentally, they were also the two most straight-forward essays of the bunch). Though the argument and language was rather complex, I also enjoyed Brian Massumi's essay for its concepts relating to the field of perception and sensation.
A lot of the essays tend towards hyperbole, but I suppose that such tendencies are to be expected when discussing a man who had himself suspended naked by hooks with his eyes and mouth sewn shut. I enjoyed Amelia Jones' more critical approach, and Julia Clarke's essay was a good in-depth examination (not coincidentally, they were also the two most straight-forward essays of the bunch). Though the argument and language was rather complex, I also enjoyed Brian Massumi's essay for its concepts relating to the field of perception and sensation.
August 3, 2017
I'm starting reading this as a reference for my master dissertation that focused on the reciprocity between technology and body that implemented as performance art—at that time, my reading of this monograph is actually just to grasped some idea on human-technology relation in performance art. I start reread this monograph weeks ago and discovered many interesting ideas. This time I see Stelarc's work as a monument of how technology could outperformed the functionality of the body. The notion of outperforming our capability as human is always interesting. The mechanism built in most of Stelarc's piece has a sense of animism. Like a beast that is greater than us—the human, the body. Is it post-humanism? I don't know, but at least through his work the co-existence between human and technology as monistic singularity is presented.
The essays written on this monograph focus on several aspect of Stelarc's works. From its media archeology to the debate on the difference between culture-nature and from the controversial Stelarc statement 'the body is obsolete' to his tendency of being masochist. Brian Massumi even wrote a 40 pages essay of the genealogy of Stelarc's works—which is amazing. A critique of Stelarc's works is also provide in this monograph. One that I found interesting is by Amelia Jones. She points out the masculinity in Stelarc work. For her, most of the work is a fantasy of control and domination. Putting the body as merely just an object. Jones sees Stelarc works in a feminist perspective that I think critical and important. This raise a question—although Stelarc argues that in this nature of feedback loop between human and technology is endless and thus the question of which in control is less meaningful—perhaps technological development in Stelarc work is indeed a fantasy of control and domination? This supported by how the looks of this technology somehow rigid and less fluid.
There is an interesting argument written by Julie Clarke on the aesthetic of Stelarc's work. Clarke theory is that looking Stelarc's work as an aesthetic practice in hostility. She argues that Stelarc willingness to lend his body as a mechanism and habitat for other unknown entities—machinery, computer and even mutational transgenic—could considered as the practice of human hostility. How Stelarc's eagerness to use his own body as the sole experiment in the context of reciprocity between human and machine is an attempt to destroy the border between subject and object argued Clarke. In this sense, Stelarc's statement on the idea of 'the body is obsolete' is applied through his willingness to use his body as medium. The body is just an object.
Somehow through Stelarc's work we shall alerted to the facts that human bodily material is appropriated, trademarked and copyrighted by biomedical corporation for their own economic purpose with or without our consent. And here, we have Stelarc—that with his consent of appropriating his body through art—try to proved that there are open possibilities for cybernetics culture that is yet to explore by the human nature without the necessity of involving economic purpose.
The essays written on this monograph focus on several aspect of Stelarc's works. From its media archeology to the debate on the difference between culture-nature and from the controversial Stelarc statement 'the body is obsolete' to his tendency of being masochist. Brian Massumi even wrote a 40 pages essay of the genealogy of Stelarc's works—which is amazing. A critique of Stelarc's works is also provide in this monograph. One that I found interesting is by Amelia Jones. She points out the masculinity in Stelarc work. For her, most of the work is a fantasy of control and domination. Putting the body as merely just an object. Jones sees Stelarc works in a feminist perspective that I think critical and important. This raise a question—although Stelarc argues that in this nature of feedback loop between human and technology is endless and thus the question of which in control is less meaningful—perhaps technological development in Stelarc work is indeed a fantasy of control and domination? This supported by how the looks of this technology somehow rigid and less fluid.
There is an interesting argument written by Julie Clarke on the aesthetic of Stelarc's work. Clarke theory is that looking Stelarc's work as an aesthetic practice in hostility. She argues that Stelarc willingness to lend his body as a mechanism and habitat for other unknown entities—machinery, computer and even mutational transgenic—could considered as the practice of human hostility. How Stelarc's eagerness to use his own body as the sole experiment in the context of reciprocity between human and machine is an attempt to destroy the border between subject and object argued Clarke. In this sense, Stelarc's statement on the idea of 'the body is obsolete' is applied through his willingness to use his body as medium. The body is just an object.
Somehow through Stelarc's work we shall alerted to the facts that human bodily material is appropriated, trademarked and copyrighted by biomedical corporation for their own economic purpose with or without our consent. And here, we have Stelarc—that with his consent of appropriating his body through art—try to proved that there are open possibilities for cybernetics culture that is yet to explore by the human nature without the necessity of involving economic purpose.
February 16, 2008
To tell the truth, Stelarc is my long time buddy. Also he is substantially a teacher to me. If I had not met him when I was an art school student, I would not have become an electronic artist. The third hand, which is used for a cover photograph of the book, was made in the late 1970s. If you are interested in body and technology, the book is highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews