Rokeby: A Cyborg Pilgrimage

I just really liked this photo. Below is some information about the artist behind this socially-crippling gargoyle setup. Then again, maybe his highlights counteract the repelling effect of the huge HMD and round webcam comming off of his head.

Rokeby is a British artist, Cyborg and Internet pioneer who lives and works in London. Working on some of Britain's most innovative multimedia projects, he was one of the founders of Cerberus (1994), which was the first company in the world to distribute and sell music over the Internet. He was also creator of the 'VNC - Virtual Nightclub' , published by Phillips - one of the first interactive movies to be released.

...

His most recent work, MEMEX: A Cyborg Pilgrimage in The Age Of Amnesia (2003) saw him transform himself into a cyborg; embarking on a 40 day pilgrimage throughout London. Recording the differing ideas to identity, existence and spirituality in the twenty first century the pilgrimage crossed certain murder spots. At the exact locations of murder, the cyborg went into deep meditation, recording his EEG brain signals and converting them into music. Rokeby will continue the rest of his life as a cyborg recording his life as art and plans to transmit his stream of consciousness portraiture and EEG brain signals, live on the web later this year with the launch of Rokeby.TV.

His art sounds like stuff that's been done really. Even though Steve Mann is not known primarly for being an artist, his work is essentially the same, while pushing stronger boundaries with privacy and surveillance. Also I personally know people who have done the EEG brain signals to music thing.

Maybe this is just more of the fashion art biz embracing the cyborg/cyberpunk style.

[ Link via del ]