New York University professor Wafaa Bilal had art on his mind when he had a camera mounted to the back of his head, but I’m claiming having electronics surgically attached to your body in the name of science.
If the name of the Iraqi-born professor is familiar to Kotaku readers, that’s because he’s the man behind the controversial Virtual Jihadi, which modified a low-budget game called Quest for Saddam, putting the player in place of a young Iraqi that joins Al Qaeda to avenge the death of his brother and kill George W. Bush.
https://kotaku.com/virtual-jihad-game-sparks-new-york-civil-liberties-unio-5285060
Now he’s moved from video game mods to photography, though he’s doing it in a rather strange way. Instead of simply picking up a digital camera and going to town, Bilal has had a titanium plate implanted in his head to act as a magnetic camera mount.
A cable runs from the back of the camera to a specially designed shoulder bag housing a laptop computer, which will process the pictures taken once every minute.
Why would he do such a thing, other than the sheer coolness of having a piece of technology grafted to your skull?
‘I wanted to lose that subjectivity of knowingly taking photographs’, Mr Bilal said. ‘At the same time I wanted to capture everyday mundane images.
He also said “Yes, it hurt alot.”
His project, called 3rd I, will see Bilal spending a year with the camera attached to his head, with images constantly being beamed to the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar. Visitors there will see what’s happening behind him as he sleeps, eats, showers, and has sex. I’d imagine that last one involves a lot of zooming back and forth while focused on a wall, ceiling, or pillow.
My guess is he’ll capture a great deal of photos featuring people trying to figure out what the hell is going on in the back of his head. I don’t know if that’s art, but as a staunch supporter of cyborgs and cyborg-by-products, I definitely approve.
Artist has camera surgically inserted so he can have ‘eyes at the back of his head’ for a year [Daily Mail]
