Stelios Arcadiou, also known as Stelarc is from Australia and has recently gained popularity owing to the fact that he underwent a controversial surgery. The surgery is best classified, as a new kind of body modification and the reason why he has undergone the surgery is one of the strangest as well.
Stelarc has been searching for surgeons that would be willing to perform this operation since 1996 and was unable to find any until now. The operation involved growing a synthetic ear that will be placed under his skin. Future operations that will be carried out shall be aimed at lifting the back of the ear lobe from the arm and making use of stem cells to enhance the ear’s bottom flap. According to Stelarc, “The ear lobe will most likely be formed by creating a cutaneous ‘bag’ that will be filled with adipo-derived stem cells and mature adipocytes. In other words the ear lobe would be partly grown using my own adult stem cells. Such a procedure is not legal in the US, so it will be done in Europe. It’s still somewhat experimental with no guarantee that the stem cells will grow evenly and smoothly – but it does provide the opportunity of sculpturally growing more parts of the ear – and possibly resulting in a cauliflower ear!”
The aim of the operation is to have a microphone implanted into the modification and allowing it to be connected with Wi-Fi. This will allow people to have access to the sounds that Stelarc experiences in everyday life. Further planned operations involve implanting a tracking device to find out where Stelarc is at all times. These options would be available at his website.
As to what Stelarc is? He is a performing artist and plans on continuing the profession while always making sure that he has a trick up his sleeve (pun intended).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLEOXkufpdE