Extra Ear: 1/4 Scale
—

2003
Oron Catts, Ionat Zurr, Guy Ben-Ary & Stelarc

Given the increasing ability to manipulate living systems, Extra Ear: 1/4 Scale deals with the ethical and perceptual issues that arise when living tissue can be grown, sustained, and function outside the body.

As the name suggests, Extra Ear: 1/4 Scale is a replica of the ear implanted on the arm of Stelarc. While Stelarc’s ear was composed of a 3D scaffold that allowed his own cells to grow into the shape of the a third ear and to become a new body part, Extra Ear is composed of both human and nonhuman cells to explores the concept of chimeric body modifications that are abstracted and sustained outside of the body. When body modification is initiated in the lab, the species boundary is porous, and easily permeated.