Body Modification – Implantation (AKA art or designed object that inspires me)

Image taken from: http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2007/07/q-why-tech-journalist-just-had-to-try.html

As a body modification enthusiast I have continually researched new and exciting trends in the bod-mod community. Something that caught my attention years ago, implantation, has more recently evolved to envelop something called transhumanists. People are getting devices implanted into their body’s that do some function or cause some ability in the implantie. I’ll get back to that in just a minute…

Body Modification has quite a mixed reputation depending on who you might ask to define it. Some see it as self-mutilation, others see it as cosmetic or spiritual enhancement, and there is a gamut of personal emotional feelings between.

I find body modification fascinating in all of it’s quirky realms. The desire to change the body seems innate to me in a world where not only is our environment squared off by cookie cutter design, but our bodies are never quite different enough either. With so many bodies in the world, the average difference isn’t enough to tell ten people of the same gender apart from each other at a distance of ten feet. Just today, I saw somebody I know, but didn’t recognize until she was very close. She was wearing the average popular clothing. Her hair is long and brown. She is of no distinctive height or shape, yet she recognized me in an instant – most likely because my hairstyle is fairly unique.

I think we all feel this to some degree, if not consciously, and we either enjoy and embellish our differences or hide them and blend in.

Body Modification enthusiasts fall into both categories.  Elective cosmetic surgery, done by medical professionals, tends to lean towards appearance conformity. The extreme ‘other’ end of this spectrum is home surgery or professional body modification. As I mentioned before, the newest trend in enhancing the body is to add abilities to the physical body.

Quinn Norton, a reporter for wired magazine has on ongoing research project involving this trend called transhumanism. She even went as far as having a magnet implanted in her finger to research and demonstrate how this works. For her, the magnet not only allowed her to pick up small metallic items without a grasp – it also allowed her an awareness of electromagnetic fields from some distance.

The predecessor of this trend was to simply implant some classic bod-mod jewelry shape under the skin rather than through it. Now, tech geeks are implanting computer chips.

I love the idea of jewelry interacting with the body in this hyper-cosmetic way. I’m not particularly interested in becoming a cyborg, but I am interested in seeing what kind of developments I might be able to provide for this field. Jewelry has always interacted with and enhanced the body; without overlooking ethical concerns, it will be interesting to see how far we can push that interaction.

Link to interview with Quinn Norton:

http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2007/07/q-why-tech-journalist-just-had-to-try.html

Link to info on transhumanism:

http://www.transhumanists.org/