Stelarc and his pain of flying
Stelarc is an Australian artist whose creation is dedicated in its entirety to the technological extension of the human body. He is the subject and the object of his own artistic experiments; his arguments on the post-human future seem to reach philosophical levels; however, upon closer inspection, he aims more or less voluntarily for an empathetic subliminal communication. The contradictory emotions stirred by the portrayal of his self-tortured naked body prove to be more convincing than his prophetic concepts. Stelarc the Cyborg completely contradicts the preconceived notion of the allpowerful robot by presenting himself as vulnerable and disarming to the public.
Keywords: Stelarc, extended-body, performance art, Third Hand, Virtual Hand, Fractal Flesh, Parasite, suspension, obsolete body, technology, medium, corporeality.
1. Corpul extins: interviu cu Stelarc, de Paolo Atzori şi Kirk Woolford, Academia de Arte Media, Cologne, Germania. http://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/stelarc/a29extended_body.html Sintagme şi concepte numeroase, evidenţiate în cadrul articolului nostru cu caractere cursive, aparţin lui Stelarc şi sunt menţionate în preambulul aceluiaşi interviu, sau cu alte prilejuri.
2. Ibidem
3. Ibidem
4. Marshall McLuhan, Să înţelegem media, Ed. Curtea Veche, 2011, p. 47.
5. Lucia Simona Dinescu, Corpul în imaginarul virtual, Ed. Polirom, Iaşi, 2007, p. 88.
6. http://stelarc.org/?catID=20328
7. http://stelarc.org/?catID=20342
8. http://stlarc.org/?catID=20325
