Terminator seen at Radical Ecologies at PICA

You can always rely on Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) to present something out of the box and the current exhibition Radical Ecologies is no exception, particularly the piece titled Re-Wired/ Re-Mixed.

Stelarc © The Ponder Room

The exhibition was opened by PICA Director Anne Barrett-Leonard who explained the show contained works from 18 Western Australian artists presenting live art encounters, new media and experiments in scent and sound. Amongst other things people will be challenged to decipher a romance novel that’s been re-written by termites, to lay down with bees and listen to whispered ecosexual confessions in a sauna, as you do.

‘Audiences will be challenged to think’, said Barrett-Leonard.

Some of the artists © The Ponder Room

The first to catch my eye was performance artist Stelarc. He’s hard not to miss standing on a podium in a darkened room looking like something out of Terminator.

Stelarc © The Ponder Room

He’s wearing a HUD (head up display) through which he sees through the eyes of an assistant in London. This vision is projected on the wall behind him. He hears through someone in New York. Oh and his right arm is encased in an exoskeleton that enables it to be moved involuntarily, including by people logging online.

‘It emphasises the remoteness and yet we can interact and connect,’ said Stelarc.

During the day Stelarc is a distinguished Research Fellow at Curtin University’s School of Art and Design who’s been working in performance art for 40 years. His work explores cyborgization and human- machine interfaces.

‘It’s as if the body has been electronically dismembered, distributed and shared,’ explained Stelarc.

Stelarc © The Ponder Room

The arm was made in Perth and fitted to him over a three month period. It weights 10 kilos however the pulley system makes it weightless. Performing six hours a day his main concern is motion sickness and retaining his balance.

‘I think the body is radically obsolete … I don’t think the body is adequate anymore … and after several performances I think less that I have my own mind.’ explained Stelarc.

Stelarc © The Ponder Room

It was difficult to leave and as I watched on mesmerized I pondered:

1. It was wonderful to see people from across the globe working to achieve a simple arm movement.
2. I ponder if this technology could be used to help people with disabilities.
3. As someone who suffers from motion sickness I had to look away from the screen every now and then so hate to think how the artist feels after six hours, talk about dedication to the art.

PICA Radical Ecologies runs from Sept 4^th 2016 10am – 5.00pm. Free.

For more information go to PICA