In his lecture ‘Augmented Body', the Australian artist Stelarc deals with the potential of improving the human body and with the consequences this has for the perception of subjectivity. Stelarc's work explores and extends the concept of the body and its relationship with technology through human-machine interfaces. His projects are attempts at testing the scientific ‘state of the art' on the human body. In his lecture-performance Stelarc describes how he compensates the imperfection of his own body and equips it with technologyun the context of the project ‘1/4 Scale Ear’, the artist recently attached a third ear to his forearm. The soft prosthesis was grown from human tissue. Stelarc considers the ear prosthesis not as a sign for a physical malfunction, but rather as a symbol for an additional feature. Thus he tries to amplify the forms and functions of the human body and produces a human-machine-hybrid which questions the notion of the wholeness of the body.