I, CYBORG

Ellen Pearlman

Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, performance and demonstration,

N
eil Harbisson, a slight, blond, a camera it would become electronic. If
Catalonian artist and musician, the prosthesis could sense and relay to
is co-founder of the Cyborg the user the difference between feeling
Foundation, along with fellow Catalo- a hot or cold surface, the device would
nian choreographer and dancer Moon be defined as cybernetic.
Ribas. The Foundation, according to its
website: Cyborgism is not just a social movement,
it’s also an art movement. In August
helps people become cyborgs 2014, Harbisson and Ribas performed
(extend their senses by applying at Hyphen Hub in New York City, a for-
cybernetics to the organism); mer underground rehearsal space with
defend cyborg rights and pro- a fifty-year history, repurposed by co-
mote the use of cybernetics in directors Asher Remey Toledo and Mark
the arts based on the research, Bolotin as a place where art, technology,
creation and promotion of proj- and business intersect. Ribas performed
ects related to extending/creat- a dance whenever she experienced
ing new senses and perceptions the vibration of live-time earthquakes
by applying technology to the transmitted by the sensor on her arm. If
human body.1 there were no earthquakes, there was no
dance. Harbisson executed the world’s
Cyborgs can be grouped into three first skull-transmitted painting Skyped
basic types: those that use mechanical from audience members in Times Square
elements, those that use electronic ele- as they painted simple colored stripes
ments, and those that just use cybernet- onto a canvas. Their actions, Skyped into
ics as part of their body. These categories Hyphen Hub, were projected onto the
are not fixed and can easily overlap. For wall. Haribisson, whose permanently-
example, someone with a hand prosthe- implanted Eyeborg antenna juts out
sis could be categorized as mechanical, from the middle of his head, was able
but if the prosthesis was equipped with to receive the color frequencies of the

84 ! PAJ 110 (2015), pp. 84–90. © 2015 Performing Arts Journal, Inc.
doi:10.1162/PAJJ_a_00264
painted surface via Internet directly into scientists he read were in agreement. On
a chip implanted in his brain. He cor- Halloween 2003, he attended a lecture
rectly identified and painted the same at Dartington College of Arts in Devon,
color onto the canvas that was being UK, where he had enrolled as a music
painted in Times Square. He performed student, given by cybernetics expert
this in front of the Hyphen Hub audi- Adam Montandon. Afterwards, he asked
ence without ever turning around to Montandon if it was possible to extend
view the actual painting being Skyped senses to perceive color, since color light
in from Times Square. He did it via the and audio sound are essentially both fre-
wireless transmission of transposed quencies, a fact he had learned through
color to sound frequencies delivered his research. Adam said yes, and in 2004
directly into his skull. they put together the first prototype of
the Eyeborg. It was a small camera that
EARLY DEVELOPMENT sensed the frequency of color. Harbis-
AND THE FIRST EYEBORG son had to wear a burdensome five-
kilo (about eleven pounds) computer
Harbisson was born with achromotop- on his back that transposed six basic
sia, a congenital condition where cone color frequencies into six separate tones.
cells in the eyes are unable to register When he heard specific tones through
color. This meant he sees the world a headset, he memorized the name of
only in black, white, and grey. As a child the corresponding color. He wore this
he was unaware of his condition until device all the time and developed an
he was ten years old. Before that, his intuitive feeling for his favorite notes
parents thought he just had difficulty and colors. Gradually, he added more
conceptualizing and talking about color. colors, increasing the number from six
Once diagnosed, his art class teachers to twelve to twenty-four to forty-eight.
allowed him to draw and paint in black, In 2007, software developer Peter Kese
white, and grey. helped him expand his range to the 360
colors that exist in a color wheel. Now
Harbisson says his non-experience of all aspects of color were available to
color was not just a visual difficulty; it him: hue, saturation, and light. He was
rendered the concept of color mysteri- able to distinguish saturation through
ous, and created social and cultural volume, and hues through microtones.
problems. Well-known brand names like He had always had a perception of light.
Red Cross, Pink Panther, or Greenpeace Color was alive instead of something
left him clueless, and color-coded sub- he hated and was confused by. Songs,
way maps were a nightmare to decipher. faces, music — everything and everyone
He could not tell the difference between around him created sound.
the hot and cold water taps in a sink,
traditionally color-coded red and blue. But there were problems. Colors trans-
He would ask people to describe color, lated into sine waves, pitched electronic
but they used superlative adjectives that sounds that began causing him head-
did not make much sense. aches. His body rejected continuous sine
waves, coupled with walking around
He tried to construct a theory of color all day, every day with the heavy com-
through research and reading, but unfor- puter on his back. He kept modifying
tunately none of the different artists and

PEARLMAN / I, Cyborg ! 85
the Eyeborg, changing the size of the itself in his dreams when he sees the
headphone and reducing the size of sky. He also hears C sharp. The Eyeborg,
the computer. In 2010, with the help of which he never removes, even to sleep
developer Matias Lizana he exchanged and shower, became part of his organ-
the computer for a chip, and began using ism. It is not an external attachment. It
occipital bone conduction to relay sound changed the way he dressed (by sound
instead of wearing headphones. He now and usually in jewel or gem colors),
experienced two sources of sound. Bone and how he experienced the nature of
or osseointegration transmitted the color cities (the major and minor chords of a
frequency sounds, and normal everyday cityscape). His brain also changed as he
sounds were conducted through air. Still, adapted to these new senses. Harbis-
the first iteration was uncomfortable, son must recharge himself every few
and he felt pressure between the chip, days through a USB port in the back of
his bone, and his skin. In 2013, the Eye- his head, but in the future to recharge
borg antenna was osseointegrated inside himself he wants to use either his own
his skull to include a pressure pad and motion, the kinetic force of his blood
three holes; one for the antenna, one circulation, or perhaps the energy gen-
for his cheek to relieve the pressure, erated by his brain at night while he
and one for the charging jack. His chip sleeps.
was updated to include a Bluetooth con-
nection so he could receive colors from CYBORG ART
other sources, like phone calls. The sonic
frequencies of infrared and ultraviolet With his newfound capabilities, Har-
were added to his repertoire. This gave bisson initiated a flurry of projects. For
him the unusual ability to know if there Piano Concerto No. 1 (2004) he painted
were infrared sensors in a building, or if a grand piano with different colored
it was a bad UV sunburn day. paints, and used the Eyeborg to play
the frequencies. A “prepared” Pianoborg
The room where he sleeps is black and Concerto followed in which a computer
white, colors that for him produce no was attached underneath a piano, and
sound. He painted his floor red because the Eyeborg sensor stationed above the
it produces a low, bass frequency. Vio- piano keys. When a color was displayed
let, at the top of frequencies, sounds to the sensor, the computer read the
screechy. Harbisson is careful to make frequency and relayed it to the piano,
a distinction between the way he uses which sounded the corresponding note.
color, which he calls sonochromatic, and He turned color into voice performances.
synesthesia. He does not experience In 2004, he collaborated with singer and
synesthesia. Sonochromatism is a new violinist Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdot-
sense. It links color and sound, but the tir, part of the Icelandic group Amiina.
relationship between them never varies. She sang microtonal frequencies, while
It is fixed. he painted pictures live on stage. In
2010, he built an outdoor installation
However, color sounds do saturate his Avidram, a large structure with twelve
dreams. The sky, whose blueness he strings. Each string represented a semi-
experiences as a C sharp note, emulates tone note in an octave. The structure was

86 ! PAJ 110
 Top: Moon Ribas,
Earthquake Dance at
Hyphen Hub. Middle:
Neil Harbisson, Moon
Ribas, and Mark
Bolotin of Hyphen Hub
compare painted colors
from Times Square
with painted colors
from Hyphen Hub.
Bottom: Moon Ribas
and Neil Harbisson
discuss the Cyborg
Foundation at the New
York Volumetric Society.
Photos: Ellen Pearlman.

PEARLMAN / I, Cyborg ! 87
installed atop a farm roof, recording 24 manifested. At the beginning of the
hours a day. A note was composed only performance, he invited members of
when a bird alighted onto a string. the audience to use his special mobile
app to play music together. The notes of
Harbisson designed sound portraits the colors sounded Beethoven’s Ninth
of different people’s faces. He listened Symphony. During the main part of the
to variations of the colors of their concert, color rained down in different
skin tones, including minute varia- sections as the quartet and the chorus
tions between their eye pigmentation. performed his compositions. At the con-
Writing the notes down he transposed clusion he was so overwhelmed he burst
them, “sketching” Prince Charles, Sir into tears. He had finally communicated
Tim Berners-Lee, Macy Gray, Steve his internal perceptions to a wider audi-
Reich, Tracy Emin, Dame Judy Dench, ence, and had been understood.
Moby, James Cameron, Peter Brook,
Leonardo DiCaprio, and Woody Allen, Moon Ribas, a fellow Catalonian, has
among others. This exercise also revealed known Harbisson since they were eight
to him that humans are neither black years old. She also studied at Dartington
nor white, but exist in an array of orange College, majoring in experimental dance
tones, because we all share the same and choreography. Ribas created the
pigmentation. Speedborg, a glove that later became a
pair of earrings that sensed the velocity
He has produced a number of theatre of others around her with a 360-degree
and dance collaborations with Moon perception. She choreographed The
Ribas. In 2007 they premiered Opus Speeds of Europe, a performance about
No 1 at London’s BAC Theatre, and, in the speed of people’s gaits in different
2011, The Sound of the Orange Tree at cities. She made Kaleidoscopic Vision,
Barcelona’s Antic Theatre, with move- where she saw colors, but not shape. In
ment, choreography, and color. That 2013, Ribas developed a special sensor
same year they premiered a sonochro- that connects to a global seismograph. It
matic video-dance, Walking Colours, allows her to feel different intensities of
that was broadcast on television. He earthquakes around the world, starting
collaborated with Barcelona’s Palau de with 1.0 on the Richter scale. With this
la Musica youth choir and the Catalan ability she created the performance piece
Quartic String Quartet on a concert for Waiting for Earthquakes.
colors in 2014. Instead of using a typical
score with notes, he taught the choir It begins with Ribas facing north. If
and the quartet to perform with light there is no earthquake, then there is no
and color. He composed his composi- performance. If the earthquake happens
tion by listening to the frequencies of in the southern part of the world, she
the mosaic tile inlays, stained glass, and moves towards the south. During the
rococo embellishments on the walls of performance the exact place the quake
the theatre. He even created a mobile is taking place is shown, and its intensity
app so the youth choir could rehearse projects on a screen behind her, along
the color tones privately in their room. with the current location, date, and time.
He instructed the quartet musicians The music accompanying the piece is
about how color frequencies actually soft and languorous. If the quake is

88 ! PAJ 110
small, the movements are small. If the focuses on extending the senses, not
quake is big, her movements grow large the bionic body. Still others wanted to
and exaggerated. She embodies a nature extend their memory. The foundation
spirit who feels the pull of the shift- never sells cybernetic extensions, as they
ing plates of the earth’s surface. When are defined as parts of people’s bodies,
the quake is over, usually after a few not mere devices. It encourages people
seconds, she ceases all movement. The to improvise their own extensions. They
tension of waiting for the next earth- don’t want to “repair” people’s senses,
quake becomes part of the performance. as they believe there are no real dis-
Another quake happens and she almost abilities. All of us need to extend our
topples over from the force. Then sud- senses because in one hundred years
denly it’s over, and calm returns to the from now it will be quite normal to be
spinning axis of the earth. a cyborg. Eventually, humans will trans-
form through genetic modification, and
THE CYBORG FOUNDATION even use their own bodies as sources of
renewable energy.
Because of the difficulties he has experi-
enced living as a cyborg, Harbisson and The foundation has supported other
Ribas founded The Cyborg Foundation projects, like the Speedborg, which
in 2010. Currently, there are no legal allows one to know the exact speed of an
protections for cyborgs. He endured a object through vibrations on the hand or
long and difficult struggle to convince the earlobe; the Fingerborg, a prosthetic
the British Government (he was born finger with a tiny camera; and the 360
in the UK) to allow him to wear the Sensory Extension, which lets people
Eyeborg in his passport photo, a neces- feel the motion of others from the back
sary step so he would not be forced to of their head. Harbisson believes he is
remove it at airports and other sensitive closer to animals, as he has acquired a
locations. He had already been ejected new sense — one that works with bone
from stores, casinos, supermarkets, and conduction — similar to how dolphins
movie theatres because of his device, perceive sound underwater. Snakes hear
though he had done nothing wrong. infrared, and birds and insects can see
People thought he was filming them ultaviolet light. Now, thanks to his Eye-
or stealing trade secrets, or violating borg, he can perceive these frequencies
copyright. as well. His antenna has become a new
type of musical instrument, and his brain
He discovered there are no special has adapted accordingly.
clinics where physicians and computer
scientists can collaborate on devices Cyborgism changes art and perceptions
and develop new ideas together. The of art. Harbisson has said that someone
Foundation was inspired by the plethora may be thought of as physically beau-
of e-mails they received from people tiful, but the sound frequencies they
asking for help. People who could not translate into don’t sound that great.
perceive smell said they could not dis- The same is true of visual art. Classical
tinguish rotten food or the odor of gas. paintings are quiet, and Andy Warhol
Other people want to extend physical paintings loud and brassy. Even his
parts of their body, but the foundation taste in fashion has changed. He dresses

PEARLMAN / I, Cyborg ! 89
according to the sounds the colors of his Another cyborg is Steve Mann of the
clothes make, whereas before he dressed University of Toronto, who has been
only in shades of black, white, and grey. wearing the EyeTap camera on his head
Food also produces sounds, as does the since 1981. Others take a DIY approach
timbre of voices and speech. like Lepht Anonym, a “scrapheap Trans-
humanist” performing self-surgeries, or
EARLY ADAPTORS Tim Cannon of Grindhouse Wetwares,
who installed a magnet in his finger. The
Neil Harbisson is not the first cyborg. Australian performance artist Stelarc has
Many people in the world walk around also worked for decades on changing his
with implanted devices, from artificial body through biological and electronic
hearts to artificial hips. The idea of the means. He pasted electrodes all over
cyborg came about during the 1980s himself, letting remote users control his
through the transhumanist movement muscles’ movements. He also had an ear
in California. People believed new tech- implanted into his forearm.
nologies could shape humankind for the
better. In 1998, Kevin Warwick, a pro- THE FUTURE
fessor of Cybernetics at the University
of Reading, created Project Cyborg by Will we become, in the next forty years, as
implanting a silicon chip transponder Harbisson and Ribas believe — cyborgs?
in his upper left arm. It allowed him to If we do, how will this effect they way
walk through the university opening we make art? How will it affect perfor-
locked doors, turning on lights, and reg- mance, gesture, movement, distance,
ulating heaters without actually physi- interpretation, and known referents?
cally touching them. He adapted quickly Will we be capable of attending events
to his newfound abilities so well that by just plugging directly into our brains?
when the chip was removed, he missed Is the Cyborg Foundation the harbinger
it. These experiments laid the ground- of things to come? And most of all, are
work for the RFID chip, used to track we ready?
dogs and cats. Warwick later created
Braingate, which sent signals between NOTES
his nervous system and a computer. His
1. http://Eyeborg.wix.com/cyborg
wife also had a connector implanted into
her arm so that when she moved, War-
wick’s brain received a signal. His work
though was for scientific purposes, and
not for making art.

ELLEN PEARLMAN is a new media artist, writer, critic, and curator, and
a PhD researcher at the School of Creative Media at Hong Kong City
University. She is director of the Volumetric Society of New York and presi-
dent of Art-A-Hack™, bringing artists and technologists together to make
something new.

90 ! PAJ 110