Professor Wafaa bilai hasn't been feeling so well lately. And it's no wonder. His body entirely accomodating of the camera he had implanted in the back of hios head to take photos of what's going on behind his back. So for now at least he's had part of it surgically removed.
The 3rd headcam, the iraqi born professor says in an artist's statement, "arises from a need to objectively capture my past as it slips behind me from a non confidential point of view." He says he is left with only ephemeral memories of his journey from iraq to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the U.S and wishes he could have better recorded his experience.
This isn't Bilai's first provocative fusion of technology and the arts, however. In 2007, he mounted a video installation called "Domestic Tention" that invited the public to log on to WafaaBilai.com to splatter the artist with paint usinh arrow icons to maneuver a remote-control paintgun. The iraqi-born artist said he viewed the constant assault as a metaphor for the danger and confinement his faamily and other face back home.
That might be a relief to those who found themselves walking behind him the NYU arts professor/cyborg and staring disconcerted at a strange round contraption jutting out from his skull. Bilai had the shooter installed last year as a part of a project called "3rdI" for the past couple of months, it ha s spontaniously captured images at a rate of one per minute, wirelessly transmitting them via laptop to a website for public viewing, as well as to monitors in an installation at Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar.
But according to the chronicle of Higher Education,Bilai's body rejected a part of the camera's apparatus, one of three posts between his skin and skukll that held the digital camera in place. Antibiotics and steroids didn't ease the disccomfort, the chronicle reported, so last week Bilai had to resort to surgery to remove part of the system that had been put in place by a Los Angeles body modification artists.
He does not, however, view the lens-ectomy as the end of the 3rd i project, which he describes as an attempt to objectively document his life. Once his wound heals, he may try implanting a diffrent, more skill-friendly cam, but for now, he'll just tie the camera to the back of his neck.
The 3rd headcam, the iraqi born professor says in an artist's statement, "arises from a need to objectively capture my past as it slips behind me from a non confidential point of view." He says he is left with only ephemeral memories of his journey from iraq to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the U.S and wishes he could have better recorded his experience.
This isn't Bilai's first provocative fusion of technology and the arts, however. In 2007, he mounted a video installation called "Domestic Tention" that invited the public to log on to WafaaBilai.com to splatter the artist with paint usinh arrow icons to maneuver a remote-control paintgun. The iraqi-born artist said he viewed the constant assault as a metaphor for the danger and confinement his faamily and other face back home.
