Cypriot born artist has ear grafted to his arm
A CYPRIOT-AUSTRALIAN performer has had an ear grafted onto his forearm in the name of art and sparked controversy across the globe.
His work focus heavily on futurism and extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centred around his concept that the human body is obsolete.
Limassol-born Arcadious spent 10 years searching for a surgeon willing to perform the controversial operation.
He says his extra ear, made of human cartilage, is an augmentation of the body’s form, but surgeons questioned whether such an operation should have been carried out, given the absence of clinical need.
Stelarc said it had taken him years to find a surgeon prepared to perform the operation.
The ear does not currently function but once it has fully developed he hopes to also get a microphone implanted, with a link to a bluetooth transmitter so that people can listen to what the ear is hearing.
He got the operation after working as a Research Fellow at Nottingham Trent University’s Digital Research Unit.
The ear was grown in a lab from cells and implanted into his left forearm.
Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, was born in Limassol before moving to Australia and eventually becoming a performance artist.
The 61-year-old’s idiosyncratic performances often involve robotics or other relatively modern technology integrated with his body somehow.
In 25 different performances he has hung himself in flesh hook suspension, often with one of his robotic inventions integrated. In another performance he allowed his body to be controlled remotely by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet.
He has also performed with a robotic third hand, a robotic third arm, and a pneumatic spider-like six-legged walking machine which sits the user in the centre of the legs and allows them to control the machine through arm gestures.
His works have been heralded for their abilities to embrace a wider audience, the best example of this was his allowance for the worldwide audience to log into the exhibition and thus access or control the electrodes his own body was hooked up to.
British reality TV star and model Sasha Gardner was born with one ear missing and recently took the first steps to have plastic surgery to rebuild the ear.
She told the BBC news website: “He views this as art but I personally find it offensive. It is a very sensitive subject for a lot of people. This is not something people should be using as an expression of art. It shows a lack of understanding.”
Francis Wells is a surgeon at Papworth Hospital in the UK and he said: “This will provoke a reaction. I would not condemn him for it, but it could cause some people distress. There are a lot of people who have lost an ear in an accident who cannot easily have that ear replaced. This type of reconstruction is expensive.”
David Gault, consultant plastic surgeon and member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said surgery is normally performed for obvious clinical or psychological benefit.
“Patients have had ears moved onto the forearm and then grafted on to the head before, so this is not something that is technically new. It is also possible that the publicity will do some good – if it prompts patients who are missing an ear to seek help that they had not realised was available.”
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