The “EXTRA EAR” was first imaged in 1997 on the side of the head. But this location was not an anatomically safe site and no surgical assistance was found to make it physically possible. In 2003, an alternate approach was taken, growing small replicas of my ear using living cells. The “EXTRA EAR: ¼ SCALE” was done in collaboration with Tissue Culture &Art and Symbiotica. But it was not possible to tissue engineer a life-size ear with a biodegradable scaffold. In 2006 funding was found to surgically construct and cell-grow an ear on the inner forearm where the skin is thin and smooth. This was both an ergonomically and anatomically plausible position, providing easy access to the ear and minimising its inadvertent scraping or damage.
The first surgical procedure involved inserting a kidney-shaped expander and port into the arm. Several times a week sterile saline solution was self-injected. The intention was to create a pocket of excess skin to assist with the ear construction. The first serious problem occurred when the expansion process was done too rapidly. A necrosis resulted, which had to be excised during the second surgery. It necessitated rotating the position of the ear around the arm, ironically matching the original 3D model and animation.
To give the ear its structure, a Medpor scaffold was inserted and the skin suctioned over it to provide the initial shape. The Medpor implant is a porous, biocompatible polyethylene material with pore sizes ranging from 100-250 micrometers. Because Medpor has a pore structure that is interconnected and omnidirectional, it encourages fibrovascular ingrowth, becoming integrated with the arm at the inserted site and not allowing any shifting of the scaffold. During the second procedure a miniature microphone was positioned inside the ear. At the end of the surgery, the inserted microphone was tested successfully. Even with the partial plaster cast, the wrapped arm and the surgeon speaking with his face mask on, the voice was clearly heard and wirelessly transmitted. The microphone had to be extracted several weeks later when a serious infection developed. In fact the artist almost lost an arm for an ear.
At present, the ear is only a relief of an ear. To fully realize the 3D structure, further surgeries are needed to lift the helix, to construct a conch and to grow a soft ear lobe using extracted adult stem cells. The ear lobe will most likely be constructed by creating a cutaneous pouch, which will be filled with adipoderived stem cells and mature adipocytes. It is still somewhat experimental with no guarantee that the stem cells will grow evenly and smoothly— possibly resulting in a cauliflower ear!
With the microphone re-implanted and connected to a wireless transmitter, the ear will become Internet- enabled in any wifi hotspot. A person in Linz will be able to listen in to what the ear is hearing in Melbourne or New York. A bodily structure has been replicated, relocated and now will be rewired for alternate capabilities. It will become a publicly accessible mobile and acoustic organ for people in other places. The body becomes an extended operational system—extruding its awareness and experience. The biological body is not well organ-ized. The body needs to be Internet-enabled in more intimate ways. The “EAR ON ARM” project suggests an alternate anatomical architecture, the engineering of an extra organ for the body: an available, accessible and mobile organ for people in other places. Locate and listen in to another body elsewhere …

Links: http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/projects/earonarm/index.html

Acknowledgements
Surgical Team: Dr. Malcom Lesavoy, MD; Dr. Sean Bidic, MD; Dr. William Futrell, MD; Stem Cell Consultant: Dr. Ramon Llull, MD. Project Coordination: Jeremy Taylor, October Films. Funded by Discovery US. Ear On Arm 3D model and animation: SIAL, RMIT, Melbourne. Photographic Documentation by Nina Sellars, funded by the Australia Council for the Arts.

Stelarc (AUS) explores alternate anatomical architectures. He has performed with a THIRD HAND, STOMACH SCULPTURE and EXOSKELETON, a 6-legged robot. FRACTAL FLESH remotely actuates the body with electrical stimulation. PROSTHETIC HEAD is an embodied conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. EAR ON ARM is a surgical and cell-grown construct that will be Internetenabled, for people in other places. Recent publications include “Stelarc: The Monograph”, edited by Marqand Smith, foreword
by William Gibson (MIT Press 2005). He is chair in performance art, Brunel University West London, and senior research fellow at MARCS Auditory Labs, University of Western Sydney. Stelarc is represented by the Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne. http://www.stelarc.va.com.au, Second Life link: http://tr.im/jFGN