Neil Harbisson
| Neil Harbisson | |
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| Born |
27 July 1984 United Kingdom |
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| Movement | Cyborg art |
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| Website | Harbisson |
Neil Harbisson (born 27 July 1984) is a Catalan-raised, British-bornavant-garde artist and cyborg activist based in New York City. He is best known for being the first person in the world with an antenna implanted in his skull and for being officially recognized as a cyborg by a government. His antenna uses audible vibrations in his skull to report information to him. This includes measurements of electromagnetic radiation, phone calls, music, as well as video or images which are translated into sound. His wifi enabled antenna also allows him to receive signals and data from satellites.
Since 2004, international media has described him as the world's first cyborg or the world's first cyborg artist, for expressing himself artistically through a new sense created by the permanent union between electronic components and his brain. In 2010, he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organisation that defends cyborg rights, promotes cyborgism as an art movement and supports people who want to become cyborgs. In 2015 he co-founded Cyborg Nest, a company that creates artificial senses to extend the perception of reality.
Harbisson is the son of a Catalan mother and a Northern Irish father. He was born with an extreme form of colour blindness that results in his seeing in grayscale. He grew up in Mataró in Catalonia, Spain, where he studied music and art at various schools. He began to compose piano pieces at the age of 11 and, at 16, began studying fine art at the Institut Alexandre Satorras, where he was given special permission to use no colour in his work. His early works are all in black and white and these were the only colours he used to wear.
At the age of 18, Harbisson climbed a tree in Mataró to save three trees from being felled. He lived in the tree for several days, supported by over 3,000 people who signed a petition to maintain the trees. After days of protest, the city hall announced the trees would not be cut. At the age of 19, he moved to England to study music composition at Dartington College of Arts.
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