STELARC



Split Body: Voltage-In / Voltage -Out

A system has been developed for the actuation of a body. A Touch-Screen interface to a multiple musclestimulator allows the body´s movements to be programmed by touching the muscle-sites on the computer model. Orange flesh maps the possible sites, red flesh indicates the actuated muscle(s). The sequence of motions can be replayed continously with it´s loop function. As well as choreography by pressing, it is possible to paste sequences together from a libary of gesture icons. The improvise funktion allows random motions to be superimposed. The system allows simulation of the programmed movement for analysis and evaluation before transmisson to actute the body. At a lower stimulation level, it is a body prompting system, at a higher simulation level it becomes a body actuation system. With the third hand attached, the STIMBOD software results in a SPLIT BODY: with voltage in on the LHS choreographing limb movements and voltage out on the RHS controlling the Third Hand. STIMBOD also becomes the seductive interface for the REMOTE actuation of a body - the means by which a motion is displayed and repositioned from one body to another body in another place. Electronically CONNECTED and COUPELD BODIES can extrude agency, with a body´s awareness neither being "all-here" nor "all-there".




Stelarc is a performance artist who is interested in alternate aesthetic strategies. He has used medical, robot and virtual reality systems to explore, extend and enhance the body's performance parameters. In the past he has acoustically and visually probed the body - amplifying his brainwaves, heartbeat, bloodflow and muscle signals and filming the inside of his lungs, stomach and colon. Having defined the limitations of the body, he has developed strategies to augment its capabilities, interfacing the body with prosthetics and computer technologies. He has performed extensively in overseas art events, including new music, dance festivals and experimental theatre.

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