Last week, ANIMAL videotaped artist Anthony Antonellis getting an RFID chip implanted into a fleshy part of his left hand — from the initial slice of the skin, to the stretching and pulling apart of the flesh, to the implantation to the… TA-DA!.. functionality. The RFID chip stores Anthony’s unique 1KB favicon gradient GIF and is readable by compatible mobile devices — a changeable, digital net art tattoo.
It’s been getting around in the news and “the news,” so we thought we’d check in with the artist. How are you feeling, Anthony?
“I feel great! The hours after the installation it was very itchy and a little sore. For the first few days I covered it with a Band-Aid to keep anything from rubbing against the cut,” Anthony Antonellis tells ANIMAL.
“I could sense its presence, sort of like having a pill stuck half way down your throat. Initially the skin was kind of bruised and red but the cut healed extremely fast thanks to the suture.”
“The most disturbing part was the series of bizarre dreams I had about the implant rejecting. In one, I dreamt the implant bounced around and loosened the skin on my hand until it became baggy like a wet leather glove. Later, I dreamt the implant migrated its way up my index finger and popped out through my fingernail. In reality the chip hasn’t moved a millimeter from where it was inserted. After about a week the swelling went away and it was healed save for a small scab. I thought the chip would feel hard like a Tic Tac, but since its below the skin in the subcutaneous tissue it’s very padded and feels not unlike a tendon.”
He adds, “The subconscious is like Fox News: It’s paranoid and makes up its own facts.”
Speaking of Fox News, while tech blogs are rightfully excited about our artist-cyborg, the Right Wing blogosphere is frothing at the mouth over the chip’s placement — the left hand. Apparently, according to some of the hate comments Anthony “666” Antonellis has been getting, he is wearing the Mark of the Beast and it has something to do with the Rapture, rainbows, Satan/Obama and, naturally, Muslims.
Anthony has been saving those sorts of responses and posting them on his newly launched Tumblr: But I Feel Great! It’s getting pretty dark over there.
Watch the graphic video and read the original interview for more. See you in hell.
