Dutch artist Diemut Strebe has collaborated with scientists to recreate famous artist Vincent Van Gogh's ear that was “rumored to have severed from his own head in a fit of lovesick madness”.
Her project titled “Sugababe” uses three-dimensional printing, the late artist's DNA found on the envelop that he has licked in 1883 and the artist's grandnephew's live ear cartilage to recreate the ear—it is currently kept alive in a nutrient solution at The Center for Art and Media in Karlshruhe, Germany.
The interactive installation allows viewers to speak into a microphone that carries the sound into the clone ear and projected as “crackling noise” through a speaker.
The artwork has created some controversies as to whether the replicated ear is the “same ear worn by Van Gogh”, arguing that it lacks the “humanity and romance” characteristics of the late artist.
Find more of the artist's works here.
[via Beautiful Decay]