Neil Harbisson (born 27 July 1982) is a Catalan-raisedFerran, Helena. "Un «cyborg» català al Regne Unit", El Punt, 5 December 2004. British-Irish cyborg artist and cyborg rights advocate who has been described as the world's first legally recognised cyborg and as the world's first cyborg artist.Jeffries, Stuart "Neil Harbisson, the world's first cyborg artist", The Guardian, 5 May 2014 International attention grew after he received permission to appear in his UK passport photo with an antenna implanted in his skull, a device he considers a new sensory organ.Radnedge, Aidan. "World's first cyborg", Metro, 2 December 2004. His artistic and activist work centres on expanded perception, the development of artificial senses and the rights of people with technologically extended bodies.
Since 2004, Harbisson has used his antenna to perceive colour—including infrared and ultraviolet—through audible vibrations transmitted via bone conduction.Wade, Greg. "Seeing things in a different light", BBC, 19 January 2005. Bannister, Matthew. Outlook,BBC World Service, 23 January 2012. "Colourful artist: on a slightly different wavelength" , The Irish Times, 5 May 2008. The device can also receive images, colour data, and signals from external sources, including the internet.*Brooks, Richard. "Colour-blind artist learns to paint by hearing", The Sunday Times, 24 February 2008. Miah, Andy / Rich, Emma. The medicalization of cyberspace, Routledge (New York, 2008). p.130 Tibballs, Geoff. Ripley's Believe It or Not! p.61 (USA 2006) Modern Painters, The International Contemporary Art Magazine pp.70–73. New York, June 2008 "Cyborgs and Stem Cells" , Research TV, 18 January 2005.
In 2010, he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an organisation dedicated to defending cyborg rights, supporting people seeking to extend their senses, and promoting cyborg art.García, F.C. "Nace una fundación dedicada a convertir humanos en ciborgs", La Vanguardia, 1 March 2011.Minor, Jordan "North Sense implant turns you into a human compass" , Geek, 27 May 2016. In 2017, he co-founded the Transpecies Society, which advocates for self-design and recognition of individuals with non-human identities or sensory systems.Suzuki, Hiromi "Transpecies Identities", Wired, Japan, 1 January 2018.
Early life
Harbisson was born to a Spanish mother and a Northern Irish father.Editor "Artist wants cyborg eye in Irish passport", Belfast Telegraph, 15 May 2012 He was born with achromat vision. Raised in Barcelona where he studied piano and began composing at the age of 11.FC "Més de 4000 espectadors ja han vist els Pastorets que acaben diumenge" Capgros 12–19 February 1999JV "Alumnes del Campeny representen Terra Baixa" Crònica de Mataró 16 May 1998 During his secondary studies he obtained permission to complete all visual coursework in black and white.Mas, Pere. "Neil Harbisson, ciborg de colors" , Catalunya Ràdio, 25 August 2009Brennan, Ciarán. "When what you see is not in colour" , The Irish Times, 5 May 2008.Bryony Gordon. "From black and white to colour . . . eyes opened to sound of socks", The Independent, 13 January 2005.
As a teenager, he became involved in environmental activism,Ferran, Helena. "Famós a Mataró per <<salvar>> arbres", El Punt, 5 December 2004. notably participating in a tree-protection campaign that drew significant community support.de la Fuente, Antonia. "Barones rampantes de Mataró se instalan en árboles para impedir que los corten", La Vanguardia, 27 May 2001."Penjats pels arbres" Front page of El Punt 26 May 2001 At the age of 19, he moved to England to study composition at Dartington College of Arts.Martinez Arias, Alberto. "Primer ciborg del mundo reconocido por un gobierno", Puntos de Vista,Radio Exterior de España, 23 January 2012.
Works
Harbisson describes his practice as cyborg art, a discipline focused on creating and integrating new senses and organs into the human body. He has also referred to this approach as perceptionism, emphasising the design of new perceptual systems rather than external objects. Within this framework, the artist, artwork, medium, and audience merge; the sensory extension itself is considered the artwork, and the artist's lived experience constitutes the creative act.
Artificial Senses (AS) Harbisson's practice centres on the design and permanent integration of artificial senses—technologically mediated sensory systems intended to expand human perception beyond conventional biological limits.Harbisson, Neil "Humans Should Challenge Technology by Becoming a Cyborg", The New York Times, 5 December 2016 These devices are treated as sensory organs rather than external tools.
Cyborg Antenna The cyborg antenna is a permanently implanted sensory device extending from the back of his head.Sanchis, Ima. "La veo en blanco y negro pero la oigo en colores", La Contra de La Vanguardia, 10 July 2010. Originally developed in 2003 with Adam MontandonNadotti, Cristina. "Daltonici, mondo a colori con l'aiuto di "Eye-borg"", La Repubblica, 31 May 2005. and later refined by Peter Kese and Matias Lizana, the antenna transposes colour frequencies into vibrations transmitted through the skull.Harbisson, Neil. Modern Painters, The International Contemporary Art Magazine pp.70–73. New York, June 2008. It detects visible and non-visible wavelengths, including infrared and ultraviolet. It can connect to external devices or satellites to receive additional signals.Alfredo M. Ronchi: Eculture: Cultural Content in the Digital Age. Springer (New York, 2009). p.319
After several ethics committees rejected the procedure, the implant surgery was performed anonymously.BROKEN LINK Millás, Juan José. "El Cyborg del Tercer Ojo", El País, 15 January 2012. Harbisson has allowed individuals to transmit colours and images directly to his head and has stated that these inputs can influence his dreams.Williams, Alison "Cyborg Series #1" , Not Impossible Now, 29 October 2014 The first public demonstration of a skull-transmitted image was broadcast live on Al Jazeera's The Stream.The Stream "The World's First Cyborg" , Al Jazeera, 27 November 2014. The first person to make a phone call directly into his skull was Ruby Wax.[Shin, Nara "Cool Hunting: Neil Harbisson", Coolhunting, 5 May 2014
In 2014 he created what was described as the first "skull-transmitted painting," receiving live colour signals from Times Square and accurately reproducing them on canvas before an audience at The Red Door.Jones, Jonathan "Will cyborgs turn art into a supersensory futureworld?", The Guardian, 27 August 2014.Pearlman, Ellen "I, Cyborg", PAJ (journal), May 2015
Sense of Time: Solar Crown The Solar Crown is a sensory device for the sense of time. A rotating point of heat takes 24 hours to slowly orbit around the head. When the point of heat is felt in the middle of the forehead it is midday solar time in London (longitude 0°), when the heat reaches the right ear it is midday in New Orleans (longitude 90°). When the brain gets accustomed to the passage of time on the head, modifying time perception can be explored 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.
Transdental Communication System: Bluetooth Tooth The transdental communication system is composed of two teeth, each containing a Bluetooth-enabled button and a mini vibrator.Vanhalakka, Vesa "Tämä mies on elävä kyborgi – kalloon ruuvatusta antennista on tullut osa hänen kehoaan" , Aamulehti, 16 October 2016 Whenever the button is pressed it sends a vibration to the other person's tooth."The Renaissance of our Species", Museum Next, New York, November 2016 One tooth was installed in Harbisson's mouth and the other tooth in Moon Ribas's mouth. Both Harbisson and Ribas know how to communicate in morse code, therefore they are able to communicate from tooth to tooth.Kędzierski, Robert "Człowiek przyszłości będzie postrzegał świat przez zmysły, które dopiero stworzymy", Gazeta, 2 May 2017 The first demonstration of the system was presented in São Paulo.Zuin, Lidia "A talk with cyborg activists Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas" , Kill Screen, 2016
Scientific and academic research Neuroscience and sensory substitution Harbisson's use of the Eyeborg has been the subject of scientific research into sensory substitution and neuroplasticity. In 2012, researchers conducted a neuroimaging study of an Eyeborg user identified in the paper as the "main subject", whose characteristics correspond to Harbisson: he had been diagnosed with achromatopsia and had been using the Eyeborg for eight years. The results were subsequently published in 2015 by Alfaro et al. in Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience under the title Hearing colors: an example of brain plasticity.
The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) to investigate possible brain changes associated with long-term use of the Eyeborg, which is described as a device that converts electromagnetic light frequencies detected by a sensor into sound frequencies transmitted to the skull by bone conduction. The researchers used the Eyeborg's sound-encoding algorithms during part of the fMRI experiment to simulate the sensory experience of using the device inside the MRI scanner.
The researchers reported differences between the Eyeborg user and the control participants used for comparison in functional neural activity, structural connectivity and cortical organisation. During chromatic stimulation, the user's activation was concentrated mainly in primary visual cortex (V1) and part of Visual_cortex#V2/V2, whereas the control participants showed activation across a broader network of occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal regions. When visual images were presented simultaneously with sounds encoded using the Eyeborg algorithms, the user showed broader activation of the auditory pathway, together with activity in temporal, frontal and occipital regions, including auditory cortex and areas associated with language and semantic processing.
Diffusion tensor imaging also identified differences in white matter organisation, including increased myelin density in part of the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy identified differences in several metabolite ratios in visual areas. The researchers interpreted the combined functional and structural findings as possible adaptive and compensatory changes associated with prolonged use of the Eyeborg and as evidence relevant to cross-modal neural organisation.
Human enhancement and cognition Harbisson's case has also been examined in academic research on the integration of technology with human cognition and the body. Research on experimental and speculative neurotechnologies has discussed the antenna as an example of human enhancement and has distinguished it from a direct brain implant because the device is integrated with the skull rather than brain tissue. Research on extended cognitive systems has used the Eyeborg as an example of an artifact that can become deeply integrated into a person's perceptual and cognitive processes, while examining whether such integration extends the boundaries of agency.