A seminar with Stelarc and Henk Oosterling

On Friday 25 October professor Henk Oosterling and performance artist Stelarc will speak at a seminar for Erasmus University students. This seminar is an open event, please register and purchase tickets via this page if you would like to attend.

Henk Oosterling is Professor of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Among his many books are Door schijn bewogen. Naar een hypokritiek van de xenofobe rede (Kok Agora, 1996), Chaos ex machina: Het ecosofisch werk van Félix Guattari op de kaart gezet (CFKj1, 1998), Radicale middelmatigheid (Boom, 2000), and Intermedialities: Philosophy, Arts, Politics (Lexington Books, 2011). Oosterling is also initiator and director of Rotterdam Skillcity, a bottom-up intervention project for urban revitalisation and educational renovation focused on the social-cultural and socio-economic aspects of a 21st century craftsmanship in Rotterdam. His latest books, Woorden als daden (JapSam Books, 2009) and Doendenken (JapSam Books, 2013), describe the projects and philosophy of ‘Rotterdam Skillcity’. In 2008, he received the ‘Laurenspenning’ for his important role in, and contribution to, social and cultural life in Rotterdam. In 2013 he was awarded with the Van Praag Prijs for his whole oeuvre.

Stelarc is a performance artist who has earned living legend status by physically trying, visually probing, acoustically amplifying and surgically manipulating his own body. His wide-ranging oeuvre consists of medical instrumentation, prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, and three films that explore the inside of his body. In his work, Stelarc frequently uses the Internet and biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces with the body, moving on the edge of what most accept as the limits of human possibilities. At present, Stelarc is surgically constructing an extra ear on his arm that will be internet-enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustic organ for people in other places

Although Stelarcs performances are moreover exceptionally spectacular, they are always conceptually rooted in his strong convictions about the relationship between the human body and technology and they unfailingly enrich our understanding of ourselves in relation to the world.

Stelarc is currently Chair in Performance Art, School of Arts, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK and Distinguished Research Fellow, School of Design & Art, Curtin University Perth

Organised by Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Centre for Art and Philosophy (Erasmus University Rotterdam). In cooperation with ISEA-NL, SG Erasmus and V2_ Institute for Unstable Media.

On October 24th at 7pm there will be a public lecture of Stelarc at Het Nieuwe Instituut.

Please note: Students are required to present their student card for free entrance.

Admission: EUR 7.50 / free admission for students
Location: The New Institute (Auditorium)
Address: Museumpark 25, Rotterdam
Date: Friday 25 October
Time: 2 p.m.
Language: English

(photo: Nina Sellars)