Celebrating the work of cyborg artist and activist Neil Harbisson on his birthday

Neil Harbisson, a Spanish-born British-Irish-American cyborg artist and activist for transspecies rights celebrates his birthday today on July 27. He is best known for being the first person in the world with an antenna implanted in his skull. Since 2004, international media has described him as the world\’s first legally recognized cyborg and as the world\’s first cyborg artist. Harbisson defines his work as cyborg art, the art of designing new senses and new organs, and the art of merging with them.  He compares his practice with sculpture; his aim is to mold his mind in order to create new perceptions of reality. He defines this particular branch of cyborg art as perceptions, the art of designing new perceptions of reality, and sees it as a post-art movement because its practicality makes no distinction between the artist, the work of art, the space where it exists, and the audience. Harbisson is the artist, the work of art, the space where it exists, and the only one in the audience. 

In 2014, Harbisson executed the world\’s first skull-transmitted painting. Colors sent from audience members in Times Square as they painted simple colored stripes onto a canvas were received live via the internet directly into Harbisson\’s brain. He correctly identified and painted the same color stripes onto a canvas in front of an audience at The Red Door, 10 blocks away from Times Square. Harbisson has created a series of \”Sound Portraits\” by standing in front of a person and pointing his antenna at different parts of the face, writing down the different notes he hears, and later creating a sound file. He has created live portraits of Philip Glass, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Iris Apfel, Oliver Stone, Steve Reich, Bono, Buzz Aldrin, Solange, Bill Viola, Prince Charles, and Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench, and many other celebrities. 

Born color blind, his antenna now enables him to see the world in an unprecedented fashion. The Cyborg Antenna is a sensory system created to extend color perception. It is implanted and osseointegrated in Harbisson\’s head and it sprouts from within his occipital bone. It has been permanently attached to Harbisson\’s head since 2004 and it allows him to feel and hear colors as audible vibrations inside his head, including colors invisible to the human eye such as infrareds and ultraviolets. His antenna also sends measurements of electromagnetic radiation, phone calls, and music, as well as videos or images which are translated into audible vibrations. His WiFi-enabled antenna also allows him to receive signals and data from satellites.

In 2010, he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization that defends cyborg rights, promotes cyborg art, and supports people who want to become cyborgs. In 2017, he co-founded the Transpecies Society, an association that gives voice to people with non-human identities, raises awareness of the challenges transspecies face, advocates for the freedom of self-design, and offers the development of new senses and organs in the community.