Man Attaches Cyborg Camera Implant to His Skull

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Man Attaches Cyborg Camera Implant to His Skull



In the name of art, an NYU photography professor has surgically implanted a camera into the back of his head.

New York University photography professor Wafaa Bilal, previously known for his work on a videogame mod called The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_215/6393-Cease-Fire-A-Look-at-Virtual-Jihadi] that cast players as a suicide bomber, is making waves once again. This time, he's gone and implanted a camera into the back of his skull for a new photography experiment that sounds really painful.

A magnetic camera mount was surgically attached to the back of Bilal's head by a body modification artist. The artist gave Bilal a "transdermal implant" which includes three titanium plates and posts, which the base for a 10-megapixel camera was screwed into. He says it "hurt a lot."

Bilal underwent the painful operation for a project called "The 3rd I." The camera will take photos at one-minute intervals for an entire year and beam them to an exhibit at the new Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, which opens on December 30, 2010. According to his website [http://www.3rdi.me/], the project will begin on December 15.

The premise behind the project is to comment on the "inaccessibility of time and the inability to capture memory and experience," Bilal says. He adds that he's interested in "what he leaves behind." For now this has only been a shower curtain and a bunch of other boring stuff, but he's sure to capture a lot of interesting moments in the hundreds of thousands of photos he plans to take over the next year.

He could have just worn a helmet cam, but that'd be too obvious to bystanders and wouldn't work for the premise of the project, it seems. Bilal has agreed to cap the lens of his head camera while on campus at NYU to protect the school's students, but it'll be on for every other portion of his life. It's even waterproof and will work in the shower.

Bilal's friends are already starting to uninvite him to gatherings because of the camera, but he doesn't care. It's an extreme project, but it also has a compelling nature that should see some cool results.

Source: WSJ [http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-12/professor-installs-headcam-starts-tracking-world-behind-him]

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Faeriian

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Oct 5, 2009
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...uh he agreed to turn off the camera when on campus to protect the students? from what? and if they need protection from..the camera? why dont other people need protection from it
 

garfoldsomeoneelse

Charming, But Stupid
Mar 22, 2009
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That's pretty awesome, actually. You just need to have a witty one-liner prepared for when someone asks why there's a lens in the base of your skull.
 

MurderousToaster

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Aug 9, 2008
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I just hope a woman takes the initiative to flash at the camera while he's turned the other way and shout "Take that, Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar!"
 

Halceon

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Jan 31, 2009
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Pointless tech-fappery. Now, if he'd hooked it up to his visual cortex, he'd be getting my kudos. Now, only sneers.
 

x434343

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Mar 22, 2008
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-facepalm-

He doesn't do it because he's going blind, or because he is constantly stalked. He does it for the art. What a moron.
 

Heart of Darkness

The final days of His Trolliness
Jul 1, 2009
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...why? A third of the pictures are going to take pictures of the exact same thing over and over again, like his pillow or a darkened ceiling or something like that. Seriously, how's he going to sleep with that in the back of his skull? It looks mighty uncomfortable.

Why not go with a smaller spycam or something? It seems less intrusive than that big honking thing.
 

GWarface

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Jun 3, 2010
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Tankichi said:
That's messed up. Would be cooler if he made a Prosthetic eye that can record images.
Didnt some australian guy do that like half a year ago?
I remember i saw an article about it on this site...

OT:
Its a cool project, done in a wierd way...
 

sooperman

Partially Awesome at Things
Feb 11, 2009
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People are uninviting him to gatherings? I'm awful about taking pictures, so I would want this guy with me whenever I had a party. Props to him for the project.

Halceon said:
Pointless tech-fappery. Now, if he'd hooked it up to his visual cortex, he'd be getting my kudos. Now, only sneers.
Very true, right here. He could have taken the mount a few steps further. It's neat what he did, but it's not the best he could have done.
 

Morgue13-2

The Repeatrix
Jul 7, 2010
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Yeah, why precisely can't he take photos on campus? In theory you should always need someone's permission to take photos of them, and a separate set of permissions to display them prominently/on the internet, but why more so on campus?
 

Recron

Professional Procrastinator
Jun 10, 2010
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This is pretty awesome, I am in full support of this guy, I think that this is a great project and I am looking forward to seeing what comes of it.
 

rokkolpo

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Aug 29, 2009
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Insanity...Genius
Those three dots are the only thing separating it.

btw: If teachers ever incorporate this I will kill myself. (or all teachers)