Neil Harbisson is a Catalan-­raised, British-­born contemporary artist and cyborg activist best known for having an antenna implanted in his skull and for being officially recognized as a cyborg by a government. The antenna allows him to perceive visible and invisible colours such as infrareds and ultraviolets via sound waves. The antenna’s internet connection allows him to receive colors from space as well as images, videos, music or phone calls directly into his head via external devices such as mobile phones or satellites. Harbisson identifies himself as a cyborg, he feels both his mind and body are united to cybernetics. He doesn’t feel he is using or wearing technology, instead he feels he is technology. His artworks investigate the relationship between colour and sound, experiment the boundaries of human perception and explore the use of artistic expression via sensory extensions. In 2010 he co­­founded the Cyborg Foundation with Moon Ribas, an international organization that aims to help humans become cyborgs, defend cyborg rights and promote cyborgism as a social and artistic movement.

Marco Donnarumma (b. 1984) is a performance artist, sound artist, musician and writer. He has played interactive music by amplifying sounds from his body, has induced visitors in altered states of self-perception by feeding sounds from their bodies back to their skulls and bones, has immersed audiences in multichannel sound and video produced by the strain of his muscles while he pulled 50Kg stones, and has physicalised digital viruses in the body. He uses human bodies and machines as materials. Working with biophysical media, that is, biomedical technologies, sound devices, computer software, sensor and transducers, he creates artworks where human bodies and machines extend, transform or disrupt each other. His live performances, concerts and installations are renown for combining rigorous science, technical sophistication and critical concepts into intense live experiences.

There will be a public conversation with both Harbisson and Donnarumma on April 13 in Rocky 200 as a part of the second CAAD Sonic Cyborgs residency.