Performance artist Stelarc implants "third ear" in forearm

Picking up where the Vacanti mouse left off, Australian performance artist Stelarc went through with his plans to implant a cell-cultivated ear beneath the skin of his forearm earlier this year, and he's now showing off the results for the world to squirm at. Stelarc apparently isn't satisfied with his newfound appendage just yet, however, and is reportedly planning another surgery to give the ear "more definition." What's more, he's also hoping to implant a microphone inside the ear that'll use a Bluetooth transmitter to, you guessed it, broadcast what it hears over the Internet.

[Via Boing Boing, photo courtesy of Nina Sellars]

[ryan @ May 16th 2007 9:25PM]

Umm...why???

[Big @ May 16th 2007 9:26PM]

can you hEAR me now?

[trey harper @ Oct 13th 2007 8:49AM]

Poor guy can't help it... His first experiment was an obvious success -- he needs to find a doctor that will remove the brain from his arse and return it to his skull... and do it quick or he could die of an ear infection...

[Darnell @ May 16th 2007 9:26PM]

Wow. That's disgusting. Original. Unnerving. Still... wait-a-minute, I was a bout to compliment this idiot...I'll pass.

[Paul @ May 16th 2007 9:34PM]

please tell e that ear wont actually work!?!?!?!

[danny rho @ May 16th 2007 9:42PM]

I don't care how arty/significant that is, I just don't care.

That's just plain gross. Period.

[will Arnold @ May 16th 2007 9:53PM]

What does this have to do with gadgets!!!!

[Paul @ May 16th 2007 11:31PM]

It was obviously interesting enough to inspire you to leave a comment. So shut it.

If you only want to read gadget posts, then just skip it this post and be done with it. I will never understand you people.

[Jason @ May 16th 2007 10:00PM]

I understand the ear on the arm, but what does Larry David have to do with this?

[lyl545646 @ May 16th 2007 10:01PM]

weird ... I'm freaking out...

[BruceT @ May 16th 2007 10:07PM]

Aw for the love of Pete, where do you guys find this stuff???

[Matt @ May 16th 2007 10:12PM]

If they can put one on his arm, they can put one on the head of someone who's lost one. That's pretty neat.

[kevink @ May 16th 2007 10:28PM]

Yay finally someone gets the real point of genetics!

[mrpostal @ May 17th 2007 9:52PM]

Chopper Read can have his ears back!

[zoara @ May 17th 2007 6:18AM]

Matt, um, they already do.

[Dog @ May 17th 2007 10:10AM]

Enlighten us.

[Mickey Jones @ May 16th 2007 10:32PM]

He just wants to tongue his own ear.

[andyg @ May 16th 2007 10:35PM]

Why is this on Engadget? nasty.

[ja$on @ May 16th 2007 10:39PM]

What a jackass

[johnzilla @ May 16th 2007 10:45PM]

I saw one of this guy's performances about 5 years ago...it was pretty cool. At the time, he was doing a lot of work with electric stimulation of muscles. He kept referring to himself as "The Body". The whole performance was kinda creepy, but in a good way.

[Drew @ May 16th 2007 10:46PM]

There is only one thing a person can say about this: What the Hell is wrong with this guy?

[ericdrum @ May 16th 2007 10:55PM]

This should make it much easier for him to get laid.

[Brian Sexton @ May 16th 2007 11:57PM]

Why an ear? If I were going to have an extra body part under the skin of my arm, it would probably be a second penis so I could discreetly masturbate with my arms folded.

[SlimChicken @ May 17th 2007 1:56AM]

Perhaps, on his next surgical adventure he could attempt the old brain in the head procedure!

[Dave @ May 17th 2007 3:17AM]

Sure got your attention if you just HAD to express disgust on an Engadget forum.

Wikipedia this guy though... he's done some pretty interesting stuff in the past. Notably, he was the first to be implanted with a pet tracking chip. He is literally listed in the tracking system as his own owner. Really, really cool statement about technology...

[PJK @ May 17th 2007 5:23AM]

Why would you criticise this guy? He's exercising his freedom of choice to do strange and interesting things to himself, sure its creepy and repulsive but I say more power to his elbow/ear.

[brutha-man @ May 17th 2007 6:25AM]

seriously this dude should be in a straight jacket

[Fatass of Kickassness @ May 17th 2007 9:40AM]

But then, how would he hear!?!

[Blairy @ May 17th 2007 7:10AM]

This guy actually came to speak at my university about a month and a half ago......he is really, really wierd, yet really, really, intresting...he was one of the original people that stuck hooks under their skin and then winched themselves up ropes/cranes/over streets in NY/around warehouses on gantries. He has also had his body controlled over the internet by attaching shock pads to his body...that are controlled by a computer....and built many, many robots...

At the Melbourne International Arts Festival he put samples of his blood and tissue along with that of another woman into a blender, and blended it for one minute every hour for two weeks (yes, that is pretty wierd)

We all got to see his ear up close, and it was exceedingly...wierd....he had videos of the surgery, as well as his other escapades with electricity, robots and hooks. In actualy fact, a bluetooth transmitter was implanted for a while, but the arm became infected, so it had to be taken out.....but he is still going on with the process getting more "definition" for that ear.

[John Doe @ May 17th 2007 7:24AM]

Blairy and I must be at the same Uni as he was at mine a couple of months ago as well.

What he does is push the limits of human/technological interaction.

He has created many interesting/cool robots and humans body extensions. One of which is a third arm that is controlled by himself. He then learnt to write out a word suing all 3 of his hands, at the same time.

Regarding the ear, has originally wanted to have it grow on his face, in front of one of his existing ears. He would have had to have travelled to a country with laxer medical standards, and decided not to for fear of severe complications. He decided to have it grown on his arm and was assisted by surgeons in America.

The process was first having a bag implanted in the spot where he wished to have the ear. He then injected it with saline solution over a period of time to expand the space, until it was large enough for his purposes.

An incision was made and a piece of framing was put into the space. It was made out a some sort of biological material so that his own cells would grow in it and consume it so that it would become truly his body's.

After the initial surgery, he had more work done on it to make it appear more life like. It was at this point that the bluetooth microphone was implanted.

Before his presentation at Uni, the ear became infected and the microphone had to be removed. This was soon before the presentation and he was only just recovering from the infection.

Throughout the entire presentation, I was asking myself what was the point of this? He has done other extreme things, such as suspending himself from fish hooks and being moved by a crane.

[Jess @ May 17th 2007 7:43AM]

I must also go to the same university as the two posters above, in a weird twist of fate, for I know I couldn't stop laughing at this guy suspended by hooks for the entire time he gave a lecture at my university. There was something that possessed me to laugh at something that seemed completely inhumane. I'm surprised neither heard me and commented on it. I was loud enough that was for sure.

I think having no control over a extremely voluntary function is a bizarre notion at all, but this guy achieved it, and frankly it sort of excites me on some level.

He had several patches placed within his arm to create movement at a click of a button thousands of miles away in another country. Different parts of his arm were connected to different countries, therefore each country only having limited control, but as an overall effect it was brilliant. Total loss of control...

Then there was his idea of a tissue (as in human tissue) printer, where there were layers of cells placed upon a piece of material, which was printed out layer by layer, creating tissue, then muscle then the idea was to have an end result of an organ. This just totally blows my mind really.

Bizarre lecture all in all.

[wrc3 @ May 17th 2007 7:49AM]

This guy should have someone perform a "Van Gogh" on his arm, preferably at the elbow (or perhaps even the neck). This is what happens when you pee in the gene pool.

[Jayne Cobb @ May 17th 2007 9:57AM]

Either Stelarc gets around to a few unis, or we are all from the same place.

Bet these guys are from production.

[Tyler Durdin @ May 17th 2007 10:33AM]

I think they are talking about the Victorian College of the Arts. He was there not long ago doing a lecture.

I have a feeling that they are doing the same course and know each other.

Don't they have more important things to be doing?

[Grey Acumen @ May 17th 2007 11:40AM]

Look, guys, I have to admit, it is creepy, but don't knock it. He's doing this to himself, not anyone else. If he's just doing this for the publicity, then yeah, it's pretty stupid. If he's doing this to learn what the human body is capable of, then I can only applaud his efforts.

[Traveler @ May 17th 2007 2:09PM]

Art is going so wrong these days.

[Carl M @ May 17th 2007 6:42PM]

How long until Mr. Zaphod Beeblebrox comes along, I wonder?

[tekdroid @ May 17th 2007 7:06PM]

I'll only be scared if (insert deity of choice) appoints this guy as apprentice to my new-borns.

Must make for great publicity tho - at very low cost (assuming you want to be mutilated and offer little to science or entertainment, IMO).

[kemptastic @ May 17th 2007 8:55PM]

This guy is a f@#king idiot! Of course he is going to start a .com with it - attention whore. If he had a single molecule of talent he wouldn't be implanting new body parts on himself as "performance art". He should get a brain implant.

[hazard @ May 18th 2007 9:09AM]

FCTI - first class tripper immaculate

[Rhiannon @ Nov 17th 2007 5:25AM]

If you go and read the articles on his website then you'll realise this guy is amazing. Sure he has some really weird art pieces, but the things he's doing with cybernetics is extraordinary. He looks at how we should be re-designing the body - since it is somewhat limited and not long-lasting, and see how we can enhance our organs, anatomy etc, maybe not just practically (as in, you need medical transplants to live) but aesthetically.

i can remember a number of years ago people were saying that we could graft and grow tails, wings etc all purely for aesthetics. And is this all too different to what has been happening for years with fashion and ritual? I mean, people tattoo, scar, pierce and place silicone into their body all for aestheetics. Some people create horns and bumps, so what's wrong with an ear?