[artinfo] STELARC / Thievery Corporation / Steve Bug

[by way of Adele Eisenstein <adele@c3.hu>]

////////////// GREETINGS FROM BLASTHAUS

We've been busy preparing an amazing amount of events in February, from the=
=20
fringes of Australia's most renowned body artist, Stelarc to one of the=20
most anticipated downtempo events in years on Feb. 5 + 6, to a very unique=
=20
Valentine's affair with Vikter Duplaix to the SF debut of noteworthy German=
=20
tech-house wizard Steve Bug and finally the much respected NYC crew=20
Turntables on the Hudson. Wow! It must be 2002 !

http://www.blasthaus.com


FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 8pm sharp:
----------------------------------------------------
STELARC presents a lecture / demonstration
----------------------------------------------------
with performance by People Hater

at SOMARTS
934 Brannan Street (near 8th)
in San Francisco

ZOMBIES AND CYBORGS:
OBSOLETE, INVOLUNTARY AND AUTOMATED BODIES

The multi-media presentation is a lecture illustrated with videotapes,=20
slides, overhead transparencies and CD-Rom projection. Stelarc discusses=20
issues related to the body and technology. The premise being that the body=
=20
is an evolutionary architecture that operates and becomes aware in the=20
world. To alter it's architecture is to adjust it's awareness. The body has=
=20
always been a prosthetic body, one augmented by its instruments and=20
machines. There has always been a danger of the body behaving involuntarily=
=20
and conditioned automatically. There has always been a fear of the=20
involuntary and the automated. Of the Zombie and the Cyborg. But we fear=20
what we have always been and what we have already become.
=DCThrough a discussion of his major performances such as the Body=20
Suspensions, Third Hand events, Internal Body Probes, and the Exoskeleton=20
walking robot, the Internet remote choreography of the Body and the Extra=20
Ear proposal Stelarc deconstructs notions of self, identity, free-agency=20
and what it means to be human. The absent, obsolete, invaded and=20
involuntary body now performs for avatars on the Internet.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Stelarc is an Australian artist who has performed extensively in Japan,=20
Europe and the USA- including new music, dance festivals and experimental=20
theatre. He has used medical instruments, prosthetics, robotics, Virtual=20
Reality systems and the Internet to explore alternate, intimate and=20
involuntary interfaces with the body. He has performed with a THIRD HAND, a=
=20
VIRTUAL ARM, a VIRTUAL BODY and a STOMACH SCULPTURE. He has acoustically=20
and visually probed the body- having amplified brainwaves, blood-flow and=20
muscle signals and filmed the inside of his lungs, stomach and colon,=20
approximately two metres of internal space.  He has done twenty-five body=20
SUSPENSIONS with insertions into the skin,  in different positions and=20
varying  situations in remote locations. For FRACTAL FLESH, as part of=20
Telepolis,  he  developed a touch-screen interfaced Muscle Stimulation=20
System, enabling remote access, actuation and choreography of the body.=20
Performances such as PING BODY and PARASITE probe !
notions of telematic scaling and the engineering of external, extended and=
=20
virtual nervous systems for the body using the Internet.  Recently for=20
Kampnagel, he completed EXOSKELETON- a pneumatically powered 6-legged=20
walking machine actuated by arm gestures. Current projects include the=20
EXTRA EAR- a surgically constructed ear as an additional facial feature=20
that coupled with a modem and a wearable computer will act as an internet=20
antenna, able to hear RealAudio sounds.  And MOVATAR is an intelligent=20
avatar that will be able to perform in the real world by possessing a=20
physical body. It will have a sound feedback loop from the body giving the=
=20
virtual entity an ear in the world.  He has also completed an EXTENDED ARM-=
=20
a manipulator with eleven degrees-of-freedom that extends his arm to=20
primate proportions and a MOTION PROSTHESIS- an intelligent, compliant=20
servo-mechanism that enables the performance of precise, repetitive and=20
accelerated prompting or programming of the arms in !
real-time. In 1995 Stelarc received a three year Fellowship from The Visual=
=20
Arts/ Craft Board, The Australia Council. In 1997 he was  appointed=20
Honorary Professor of Art and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University.  He=20
was Artist-In-Residence for Hamburg City in 1998. In 2000 he was awarded an=
=20
honorary Degree of Law by Monash University.  He is now Principal Research=
=20
Fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at The Nottingham=20
Trent University, UK. His art is represented by the Sherman Galleries in=20
Sydney.
http://www.stelarc.va.com.au