New York University professor Wafaa Bilal had art on his mind when he had a camera mounted to the back of his head, but I'm claiming having electronics surgically attached to your body in the name of science.


If the name of the Iraqi-born professor is familiar to Kotaku readers, that's because he's the man behind the controversial Virtual Jihadi, which modified a low-budget game called Quest for Saddam, putting the player in place of a young Iraqi that joins Al Qaeda to avenge the death of his brother and kill George W. Bush.


Now he's moved from video game mods to photography, though he's doing it in a rather strange way. Instead of simply picking up a digital camera and going to town, Bilal has had a titanium plate implanted in his head to act as a magnetic camera mount.





A cable runs from the back of the camera to a specially designed shoulder bag housing a laptop computer, which will process the pictures taken once every minute.

Why would he do such a thing, other than the sheer coolness of having a piece of technology grafted to your skull?

'I wanted to lose that subjectivity of knowingly taking photographs', Mr Bilal said. 'At the same time I wanted to capture everyday mundane images.


He also said "Yes, it hurt alot."

His project, called 3rd I, will see Bilal spending a year with the camera attached to his head, with images constantly being beamed to the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar. Visitors there will see what's happening behind him as he sleeps, eats, showers, and has sex. I'd imagine that last one involves a lot of zooming back and forth while focused on a wall, ceiling, or pillow.


My guess is he'll capture a great deal of photos featuring people trying to figure out what the hell is going on in the back of his head. I don't know if that's art, but as a staunch supporter of cyborgs and cyborg-by-products, I definitely approve.

Artist has camera surgically inserted so he can have 'eyes at the back of his head' for a year [Daily Mail]