Subdermal implants are implants that are placed under the skin (dermis) entirely covered by the skin, their main use today is in the Norplant contraception implant which is a series of bars placed under the skin in the upper arm in women. However they have formed a bit of a more devious reputation in the underground body modification scene; people have gotten silicon molds of certain shapes surgically implanted under their skin. After it is completely healed the person has that shape protruding from the surface of their skin. The problem with these more drastic aesthetic modifications is that the people who perform the operations are not licensed to use anesthetics and so the only relief you can before they cut you open is a bucket of ice if your lucky.
Transdermal implants are implants that go underneath the skin but are also on the outside aswell. One of the most interesting uses for them: Pierced Glasses by James Sooy and Oliver Gibson where they pierced a bar into the skin in their noses. This then gives them a frame from which to hang the lenses of a pair of glasses, meaning that you will have a persistent pair of removable glasses (they can un-clip from the bar in the nose), but that will not fall off.
However these do have a similar underground group like the subdermal implants, some people get "horns" inplanted in their skulls. There are still issues with this though in that there are no qualified surgeons willing to do the procedure, so your stuck with another bucket of ice.
WHY!?
I decided to go with implants and the idea of body modification because it is something that I find incredibly fascinating and an idea that hasn't really been pushed far enough in my opinion, but also because of its potential to create a very strong project. When you start working with the human body there is the potential for so many different outputs and inputs, for so many different responses as the brief says. When working with peoples skin and body there is the potential to add whole other ranges of senses that people have never even though a human could experience before, just look at the example of people implanting small magnets in their fingers. It gives them the ability to feel electrical fields through proximity, once a sense restricted to some fish and eels this is now something that humans can experience aswell (something incredibly relevant to our digital age).
I want to explore the idea of adding depth and functionality to the human body itself, not just the things that we surround it with.
No comments:
Post a Comment