Stelarc

Stelarc (born Stelios Arcadiou, but legally changed his name in 1972) is a Cypriot-Australian performance artist whose works focuses heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body. As such, most of his pieces are centred around his concept that the human body is obsolete. Until 2007 he held the position of Principal Research Fellow in the Performance Arts Digital Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, England. He is currently a visiting Professor in the School of Arts at Brunel University, West London.

Stelarc's idiosyncratic performances often involve robotics or other relatively modern technology integrated with his body somehow. In 26 different performances he has suspended himself in flesh hook suspension, often with one of his robotic inventions integrated. His (seemingly) last suspension performance was held in Melbourne in March 2012. In another performance he allows his body to be controlled remotely by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet. He has also performed with 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.