I’m pretty sure Stelios Arcadiou is copying Van Gogh. The Australian performance artist, who goes by the name Stelarc, recently had a left ear surgically constructed and grafted to his arm. Why? According to an article on the UK Website GazetteLive, the artist wants his work to:

“Challenge perceptions about the human body by exploring its relationship with technology through means including prosthetics and robotics.”

OK, so Van Gogh didn’t have this type of technology when he infamously cut off his ear and mailed it to a lover. But in an age where exhibits like Bodies walk a fine line between educational and exploitative, Arcadiou’s work poses interesting questions about body modification and the possibility of changing our anatomical structure for advancement. Could it be that our original forms are not completely ideal?

In the case of his “Extra Ear Project,”Arcadiou says he plans to mix technology and anatomy by installing a Bluetooth transmitter into the ear.

So, how does this relate to speech technology? As part of an aptly-named “Prosthetic Head Project,” Arcadiou also made a head that can mimic human speech patterns using real-time lip synching and speech synthesis. We’re all for the advancement of speech tech, but a fake talking head? We’ll pass for now.

[Arcadiou story & image via Gazettelive.co.uk]