Hearing Colors

Neil Harbisson is an artist who sees everything in grayscale due to a condition called achromatopsia or total color blindness. He may not see the range of shades but he hears them in vivid colors, thanks to an antenna implanted in his skull.

“I’ve been a cyborg for 10 years now.  I don’t feel like I’m using technology, or wearing technology. I feel like I am technology. I don’t think of my antenna as a device – it’s a body part”.

Harbisson believes humans have a duty to use technology to transcend our senses. “Becoming a cyborg isn’t just a life decision” he explains. “It’s an artistic statement – I’m treating my own body and brain as a sculpture”.

Having an extra body part is transforming his experience of the world – and of art. “I like listening to Warhol and Rothko because their paintings produce clear notes. I can’t listen to Da Vinci or Velázquez because they use closely related tones – they sound like the soundtrack for a horror film” says Harbisson.

Permanently attaching an antenna to the back of the head may seem like a radical decision for most of the people, but not for Harbisson. Why did he decide to have the antenna implanted into his skull? “I wanted to be a different kind of human being” he tells.

Via The Guardian