This Hyphen Hub Salon was focused on art in the age of cyborgism, exploring how the addition of new senses and modified bodies create radical new art forms. 

 

We presented Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, pioneering artists and founders of The Cyborg Foundation, an international organization that helps humans become cyborgs (cybernetic organisms). 

 

Neil Harbisson is the world’s first-legally recognized cyborg by a government. Completely color-blind since birth, he “hears” colors through an antenna embedded in his skull that transmits them as sound directly into his brain through bone conduction. 

 

For the salon, Harbisson attempted to the world’s first “Skull Transmission  Painting”. Passers-by in Times Square painted different colored stripes on a canvas that were transmitted live to Harbisson’s skull who attempted to create the same painting simultaneously at Hyphen Hub. The audience was able to see in real-time both paintings as they were being created, whilst the artist only heard the colors being transmitted to his brain. 

 

Moon Ribas is a cyborg activist, dancer, and choreographer who has a seismic sensor permanently attached to her elbow, allowing her to feel earthquakes in real-time. For Hyphen Hub, she performed her piece “Waiting for Earthquakes” in which she danced in response to the vibrations of any earthquakes that happen worldwide during the time of the actual performance.

 

Harbisson and Ribas also talked about art in the age of cyborgs and conducted a unique ‘telepathic’ Q&A with the audience. The salon was also followed by drinks and a special live band.

 

 

 

More about Cyborg Arts and the artists:

https://www.cyborgarts.com/