30 Facts About Neil Harbisson

Neil Harbisson was born on 1982 and is a Catalan-raised British-Irish-American cyborg artist and activist for transpecies rights.

Neil Harbisson is best known for being the first person in the world with an antenna implanted in his skull.

Neil Harbisson's antenna sends audible vibrations through his skull to report information to him.

Neil Harbisson grew up in Barcelona where he studied piano and began to compose music at the age of 11.

Neil Harbisson's initiative was supported by over 3,000 people who signed a petition to maintain the trees.

Neil Harbisson defines his work as cyborg art, the art of designing new senses and new organs, and the art of merging with them.

Neil Harbisson compares his practice with sculpture; his aim is to mould his mind in order to create new perceptions of reality.

Neil Harbisson defines this particular branch of cyborg art as perceptionism, the art of designing new perceptions of reality and sees it as a post-art movement because its practicality makes no distinction between the artist, the work of art, the space where it exists and the audience.

Neil Harbisson is the artist, the work of art, the space where it exists, and the only one in the audience.

Neil Harbisson began developing the antenna at college in 2003 with Adam Montandon and it was upgraded by Peter Kese and Matias Lizana, among others.

Neil Harbisson has given permission to five friends, one in each continent, to send colours, images, videos or sounds directly into his head.

Neil Harbisson correctly identified and painted the same color stripes onto a canvas in front of an audience at The Red Door, 10 blocks away from Times Square.

Neil Harbisson's artwork has been ranked together with the works of Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic as one of the 10 most shocking art performances ever.

Neil Harbisson's work is focused on the creation of new senses and the creation of external artworks through these new senses.

Neil Harbisson has created a series of "Sound Portraits" by standing in front of a person and pointing his antenna at different parts of the face, writing down the different notes he hears and later creating a sound file.

Neil Harbisson has created live portraits of Philip Glass, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Iris Apfel, Oliver Stone, Steve Reich, Bono, Buzz Aldrin, Solange, Bill Viola, Prince Charles, Woody Allen, Antoni Tapies, Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench, Moby, James Cameron, Peter Brook, Al Gore, Tim Berners-Lee, Macy Gray, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfonso Cuaron, Ryoji Ikeda, Gabriel Byrne, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Steve Wozniak, Oliver Sacks, and Giorgio Moroder, among others.

In 2009, Neil Harbisson published the Human Colour Wheel based on the hue and light detected on hundreds of human skins from 2004 to 2009.

Under the title Capital Colours, Neil Harbisson has exhibited the dominant colours of different cities he has visited.

Neil Harbisson has contributed significantly to the public awareness of cyborgs, transpecies, artificial senses, and human evolution by giving regular public lectures at universities, conferences and LAN parties sometimes to audiences of thousands.

Neil Harbisson has taken part in science, music, fashion, and art festivals such as the British Science Festival, TEDGlobal, London Fashion Week, and Sonar among others.

Neil Harbisson has become a trending topic on Twitter in several occasions.

In 2013, a short film about Neil Harbisson won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival's Focus Forward Filmmakers Competition.

Since 2014, a short fictional film about Neil Harbisson's life is being filmed.

Neil Harbisson has taken part in radio shows on New York's Public Radio International, BBC World Service, Cadena SER, and has contributed in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The New Scientist, Wired, and The Scientist, among others.

Neil Harbisson appears in Adam Green's Aladdin, an independent film directed by Adam Green and starring Macaulay Culkin, Natasha Lyonne and Francesco Clemente among others.

Neil Harbisson wrote back explaining that he identified as a cyborg and that his antenna should be treated as an organ, not a device.

In 2011, during a demonstration in Barcelona, Neil Harbisson's antenna was damaged by police who believed they were being filmed.

Neil Harbisson filed a complaint of physical aggression, not as damage to personal property, as he considers the antenna to be a body part.

Neil Harbisson has collaborated extensively with his childhood friend and cyborg artist Moon Ribas in performances and art projects.

Neil Harbisson has performed with artist Pau Riba with whom he shared the same interest in cyborgs.