Sensory Prostheses

The subject of sensory prostheses is addressed in Lisa Cartwright and Brian Goldfarb’s On the Subject of Neural and Sensory Protheses and is compared against Stelarc’s interest in the parasite as protheses in Julie Clarke’s A Sensorial Act of Republication.
First I have to say both of these articles were super interesting to me, as prosthetics are one of the biggest areas of research in my work.

Cartwright and Goldfarb address protheses by addressing the different ways in which protheses have developed. I am interested in the approach to understanding protheses through the nervous system or myoelectrics. Myoelectric protheses are extensions that tap into the remanant limb’s nervous system, creating a new body object in the place of what was lost. As well as the actual limb itself, the sensation of touch, commonly linked to emotions, sensual pleasure and language are also partially lost when a hand and the nerve rich skin that surrounds it is lost. The myoelectric protheses offers an abstract new language, through heat and vibrations and pressure, that must be reinterpreted by its wearer.













Myoelectric Protheses






Stelarc is an Australian based performance artist who incorporates themes of cyborgization and other human-machine interfaces in his work. Stelarc expands his “nervous system” to include the virtual environment of the internet and our mediated culture as well as the Avatar world to be considered as a new type of nervous system. Stelarc’s interest is in “technology [that] extends the body into the virtual realm of illusion and the Avatar moves Stelarc’s body through the motion prosthesis…(198)”













Stelarc





The research into the importance of prosthetics illustrates the potency of the power of touch in communication as we understand it. Stelarc’s decision to exploit this in our newly understood virtual world should be recognized. As a culture we are moving farther away from person to person contact in communication, which I recognize as precious. The power of understanding the techonology behind prosthetics, brings forward sensations that seem to be more and more overlooked in our modern forms of communication. These senses are precious and care should be observed to take full advantage because someday we may no longer have the privilege.