Man Growing Ear on Arm: It's 'Interesting'

• comments
• 
• 

What are you willing to do for art? Apparently, an artist from Perth, Australia is willing to grow a human ear on his arm, all for the sake of art.

ABC News Australia reports that artist and Curtin University professor Stelarc has had the idea since 1996 but was only able to make it a reality in 2006, when a medical team became willing to insert a scaffold under his arm skin. Six months later, blood vessels and tissues started to develop around the implant.

As the public has become increasingly dependent on the Internet for news and experience, Stelarc feels it can be the best way to show people from all over the world what's it like. He states that the grown ear will be a listening device that can be heard live 24/7 through the use of the Internet and wireless connection. A GPS can track it and people can hear what his new ear hears, the professor adds.

Further enhancement on Stelarc's ear is being conducted to make it realistic and appear three-dimensional, explains Science Alert. This procedure will lift the ear lobe to protrude out of the arm while using some of his genetic material. This procedure is only legal in Europe due to its experimental nature and there's no guarantee that it will even grow as natural-looking.

Once the ear has been implanted, a microphone will be inserted. However, due to infection, it has been removed several times.

CNN writes that Stelarc's ear has been constructed from biocompatible materials used commonly in plastic surgery. Once it has been securely transplanted to his arm, the part surgical and part human organ will function on its own. 

Stelarc, who's real name is Stelios Arcadiou, is a performance artist who has always used his body to explore how people adapt to technology. His previous works have included inserting cameras in his lungs, stomach and colon, having a third hand, and letting his naked self be hung from the ceiling with hooks, all in the name of art. He states that he is interested in the idea of being a cyborg, where his biological structure is no longer the definition of what being human means.

Stelarc is also a known professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University, West Australia.