An NYU assistant professor is making headlines again, this time with the surgical implantation of a camera into the back of his head. Wafaa Bilal will go about his normal business as an artist and educator, but with the what many have always suspected teachers already have--eyes in the back of his head.
The camera, which will remain in place for a year, will take one photograph per minute and transmit the photo to an exhibition at The Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar.
The camera is reportedly attached by a piercing like attachment to Bilal's skull, but no information has been released regarding the nature of the surgery or the surgeon who was willing to perform the procedure.
Wafaa Bilal is no stranger to controversy arising from his art. In 2007 Bilal was named Artist of the Year by the Chicago Tribune for art in which online users could fire a paintball at him 24 hours a day. He also has a back tattoo of a map of Iraq, done during a performance piece titled "... And Counting", where dots made of permanent ink represent all of the American deaths during the war, while dots representing Iraqi deaths are only visible under black light.
While the project was done as an artistic expression, as the Surgery Guide I can't help but think about the discomfort, risk of infection and other problems that might arise... surely this is why I am a nurse and Bilal is an artist. What do you think?
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