Transhumanist Performance Art Project Not So Popular With Artist’s Own Head

You know that NYU professor/artist who implanted a video camera in the back of his head? No? Oh, yeah, as part of a performance art piece a NYU professor/artist implanted a video camera in the back of his head .

I know, I know, great idea, right? Who doesn’t love transhumanist performance art?

Well, his head didn’t quite see it the same way :

Artist Wafaa Bilal, aka Professor Camerahead, met with plenty of skepticism from people who questioned the wisdom of his headline-grabbing plan to surgically embed a camera in the back of his skull. Students at NYU, where Bilal teaches, also criticized the project’s implications for on-campus privacy, given that his camera would be automatically sending pictures to the Internet every minute. Now Bilal has met his toughest critic yet: his own body, which has rejected the camera implant.

The original operation was performed at a tattoo shop in Los Angeles, where a titanium base was inserted between Bilal’s skin and skull; the camera was mounted then on three posts attached to the base. However, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the artist’s body rejected one of the metal posts, leading to constant pain. Bilal had been attempting to treat the infection with antibiotics and steroids, but last week could endure no more, and had the problematic post removed on Friday.

Undaunted, Bilal hasn’t lost heart and remains committed to the performance. He plans to try again with a lighter camera, proving, as Rochefoucauld said, “The heart is forever making the head its fool.”

By the way, I wasn’t even aware you could get cranial surgery in a tattoo parlor. Is that covered under Obamacare?