Neil Harbisson

Neil Harbisson (27 July 1982) is a Catalan-raised British-Irish-American cyborg artist and activist for transpecies rights.

He is best known for being the first person in the world with an antenna implanted in his Skull.

Harbisson began developing the antenna at college in 2003 with Adam Montandon and it was upgraded by Peter Kese and Matias Lizana, among others.

The antenna implant surgery was repeatedly rejected by bioethical committees but went underway regardless by anonymous doctors.

Harbisson has given permission to five friends, one in each continent, to send colours, images, videos or sounds directly into his head.

If he receives colours while asleep his friends can colour and alter his dreams.

The first public demonstration of a Skull-transmitted image was broadcast live on Al Jazeera's chat show The Stream. The first person to make a phone call directly into his Skull was Ruby Wax.

Since 2004, international media has described him as the world's first legally recognised cyborg and as the world's first cyborg artist.

His antenna sends audible vibrations through his Skull to report information to him.

This includes 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.

It has been permanently attached to Harbisson's head since 2004 and it allows him to feel and hear colours as audible vibrations inside his head, including colours invisible to the human eye such as infrareds and ultraviolets.

The antenna also allows internet connection and therefore the reception of colour from other sensors or from satellites.

In 2010, he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organisation that defends cyborg rights, promotes cyborg art and supports people who want to become cyborgs.

In 2014, Harbisson executed the world's first Skull-transmitted painting.

Colours sent from audience members in Times Square as they painted simple coloured stripes onto a canvas were received live via 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.

The Solar Crown is a sensory device for the sense of time.

A rotating point of heat takes 24 hours to slowly orbit around Harbisson's head.

When he feels the point of heat in the middle of his forehead it is midday solar time in London (longitude 0°), when the heat reaches his right ear it is midday in New Orleans (longitude 90°).

When his brain gets accustomed to the passage of time on his head, he will explore if he can modify his perception of time by altering the speed of rotation.

Harbisson states that in the same way we can create optical illusions because we have eyes for the sense of sight, we should be able to create time illusions if we have an organ for the sense of time.

If time illusions work, he will then be able to stretch or control his perception of time, age, and time travel.

The transdental communication system is composed of two teeth, each containing a bluetooth enabled button and a mini vibrator.

In 2017, he co-founded the Transpecies Society, an association that gives voice to people with non-human identities, raises awareness of the challenges transpecies face, advocates for the freedom of self-design and offers the development of new senses and organs in community.

Harbisson is the son of a Spanish mother and a Northern Irish father.

He was born with achromat vision.

He grew up in Barcelona where he studied piano and began to compose music at the age of 11.

At 16, he studied fine art at the Institut Alexandre Satorras, where he was given special permission to use no colour in his work.

His early works are all in black and white.

As a teenager, Harbisson lived in a tree for several days in Mataró to save the trees from being cut down.

His initiative was supported by over 3,000 people who signed a petition to maintain the trees.

After days of protest, the city hall announced the trees would not be cut.

At the age of 19, he moved to England to study music composition at Dartington College of Arts.

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 mould his mind in order to create new perceptions of reality.

He defines this particular branch of cyborg art as perceptionism, 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.

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.