Visited STRP 2013 for the first time yesterday. The theme of STRP 2013 exhibition  is “City of Cyborgs” . STRP states that in 2013 due to the advance of internet, smart phones, social media etc. we are now all “citizens of Cyborg City”. The real question is not whether we want to be cyborgs, but what kind of cyborgs we want to be. So STRP invited artists who explore the concept of the cyborg.

The most impressive piece in this exhibition is the exoskeleton  of Australian artist Stelarc:

Stelarc focusses exclusively on enhancing/redesigning the human body in his performance art pieces, in fact creating a “cyborg”. Stelarc has been extending his body through performances since the late 1960s. Stelarc’s artistic strategy revolves around the idea of “enhancing the body” both in a physical and technical manner. It originates as a polarism between the “primal desire” to defeat the force of gravity with primitive rituals and a low- tech and the hi-tech performance with the third arm and the related cybersystem.

His intention in both cases is to “express an idea with his direct experience.”:

Quite an interesting artist IMO, so here are some links to enable you to explore his work in detail:

• Stelarc website
• Extended-Body: Interview with Stelarc

• Stelarc: The Monograph (Electronic Culture: History, Theory, and Practice)

• Stelarc: goeroe van de cyborg-kunst (Dutch!)