Neil Harbisson hears color. We collaborated to create a sculpture that lets him share his extraordinary sensory world.

Cyborg Sculpture

QUESTION NO. 100-2016-09

HOW DO YOU SHARE A SENSORY EXPERIENCE?

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Sometimes we start with our own questions. Sometimes questions are brought to us.

This one was brought to us by our friend Neil Harbisson, the world's first government-recognized cyborg.

How could we share his sensory experience?

The World's First Cyborg

Neil Harbisson was born without the ability to see color. His eyes didn't develop the cones and rods necessary to perceive color—he saw only in black, white, and shades of gray. Very similar to Dorothy's experience before she visits Oz.

Neil was always curious about what it was like to sense color.

In his mid-20s, he met a group of researchers in England who were developing a technology that could take light (which is a wavelength) and convert it to sound (which is also a wavelength).

They developed something called the sonochromatic scale, which converts light to sound—or color to sound.

Neil Harbisson with antenna visible extending from his skull

SONOCHROMATIC SCALE

349 Hz

659 Hz

Touch a color 🎵

Visual representation of the visible light spectrum showing wavelength progression from red to violet

The Sonochromatic Scale

Red, at the low end of the visible light spectrum, becomes a very low-pitched note, like the string of a bass.

Violet, at the top of the visible light spectrum, becomes a very high-pitched note, like the string of a violin.

Neil had an antenna surgically implanted in his skull.

The antenna senses color and converts it to sound that only he can hear, conducted directly through his bones.

He doesn't see color. He hears it.

THE CHALLENGE

People ask Neil all the time: 'What is it like to listen to color?' How do you answer that? How can you share a sensory experience that most people will never have?

A Question We Couldn't Ignore

How do you make the invisible—or rather, the inaudible—accessible?

What if we could create a sculpture that lets people experience color the way Neil does?

Not just learn about it. Actually experience it.

Building a Shared Experience

Together, we came up with the idea of creating a 1:1 life-size sculpture of Neil containing the same cybernetic components that he had surgically implanted.

A sculpture that could hear color.

A sculpture that visitors could interact with—pointing colors at its antenna and hearing what Neil hears.

It would be a bridge between Neil's sensory world and everyone else's.

Life-size bronze sculpture of Neil Harbisson with functional antenna

Neil Harbisson being 3D scanned with infrared scanner, point cloud visualization visible

Scanning a Cyborg

We started with a 3D scan of Neil using an infrared scanner.

And we discovered something remarkable:

Neil could sense the infrared light from the scanner.

His antenna allows him to perceive colors beyond the visible light spectrum—including infrared and ultraviolet. While we were scanning him with infrared technology, he was hearing it. He was experiencing the scan the same way we might feel warmth from a heat lamp.

The tool we were using to capture him was visible to him in a way it wasn't to us.

DISCOVERY DURING MAKING

The tool we were using to capture him was visible to him in a way it wasn't to us.

The boundaries between observer and observed blurred when your senses are extended.

From the scan, we got a point cloud—thousands of points in 3D space that we could connect to create a 3D model.

3D point cloud scan data of Neil Harbisson showing thousands of spatial coordinates

From there, we planned out the path of the electronics and cybernetics required to make the sculpture interactive.

The same technology Neil uses every day would now be accessible to anyone who stood in front of his sculpture.

From Data to Bronze

We sent the 3D model to our printer and printed the sculpture in sections.

Then came the careful work of installing the electronics—the antenna, the sensors, the audio system that would convert color to sound exactly the way Neil's implant does.

Finally, we painted the sculpture with a bronze finish.

This wasn't just aesthetic—we wanted to reference the bronze sculptures of changemakers throughout history. Leaders, artists, activists immortalized in bronze.

Neil Harbisson, the world's first government-recognized cyborg, now joins that lineage.

Internal view of sculpture showing path of electronics

Fabricating the Neil Harbisson Cyborg Sculpture

Buildini printing the sculpture in sections before assembly and finishing

Layer by layer: the sculpture printed in sections

Sculpture printed in sections, then assembled

3D Printed parts, assembled

Assembled sculpture, painted to give it a bronze finish

With the electonics in, we then painted the sculpture to give it a bronze finish

Finished sculpture with bronze coating, dramatic museum lighting

Bronze finish: joining the tradition of honoring changemakers

Neil Harbisson with the interactive, life-sized sculpture

Listening to Color

The sculptures are highly interactive.

1. Select a Color

Using physical color cards, painted objects, or your own clothing

2. Point at the Antenna

The sculpture's antenna senses the color

3. Hear the Sound

The sculpture plays the corresponding note through speakers

4. Experience Neil's World

For a moment, you hear color the way Neil does

Red sounds low and resonant. Yellow sounds bright and mid-range. Blue sounds cool and higher. Violet sounds sharp and crystalline.

You're not learning about synesthesia. You're experiencing it.

Unlike traditional bronze sculptures of historical figures, these invite participation. They don't ask you to observe from a distance. They ask you to engage, to experience, to understand.

Changemakers, Immortalized

Since making the first one, several cyborg sculptures of Neil Harbisson have been made. They've traveled all over the world.

Neil Harbisson sculpture in Barcelona, Spain exhibition space

Barcelona, Spain—where Neil's journey began

Visitors interacting with sculpture in Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland—engaging a new audience

Sculpture installation in Singapore museum

Singapore—bringing synesthetic experience to Asia

Exhibition in Germany, next to the first 3D printed dress

Germany—the only one behind glass

Neil Harbisson sculpture at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC

Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC—alongside history's changemakers

Thousands of people have experienced listening to color. Thousands of people have stepped into Neil's sensory world, even if just for a moment.

The sculptures stand as bronze monuments—but unlike traditional bronze sculptures of historical figures, these invite participation.

A visitor pointing color card at sculpture antenna

Accessibility Takes Many Forms

We usually think of accessibility as making things perceivable to people with disabilities.

This project flipped that: making a cyborg's enhanced perception accessible to non-cyborgs.

The sculptures don't just represent Neil. They extend his sensory experience into the world, making the extraordinary temporarily ordinary.

Experience teaches better than explanation.

What Sharing a Sense Taught Us

We started with Neil's question: How could we share his sensory experience?

We learned:

Some questions require collaboration

We couldn't have conceived this project alone. Neil's lived experience + our fabrication capabilities = something neither of us could have made independently.

Technology can bridge perception

The same tools that scan (infrared) can also be sensed (by Neil's antenna). The boundaries between observer and observed blur when your senses are extended.

Bronze means more than metal

By choosing a bronze finish, we connected Neil to the tradition of honoring changemakers. But unlike static monuments, these sculptures invite participation.

Experience teaches better than explanation

We could have made an exhibit about Neil's synesthesia. Instead, we made something that lets you experience it. There's no comparison.

Accessibility takes many forms

We usually think of accessibility as making things perceivable to people with disabilities. This project flipped that: making a cyborg's enhanced perception accessible to non-cyborgs.

The sculptures don't just represent Neil. They extend his sensory experience into the world.

Now that we've shared one enhanced sense, what other extraordinary human experiences can we make accessible?

About Neil Harbisson

Neil Harbisson is a Catalan-Irish cyborg artist and activist for transpecies rights. Born with achromatopsia (complete color blindness), he worked with researchers to develop an antenna implanted in his skull that converts color frequencies into audible sound frequencies.

In 2004, he became the first person to be officially recognized as a cyborg by a government when the UK passport office allowed him to appear in his passport photo wearing the antenna, which they accepted as part of his body.

Neil is the co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization that aims to help humans become cyborgs, defend cyborg rights, and promote cyborgism as a social and artistic movement.

This project was a collaboration between Neil Harbisson, Isaac Budmen, and Stephanie Budmen to create a way for people to experience synesthetic color-hearing.

From one cyborg to thousands of experiences

International Exhibition Locations

1:1

Life-Size Scale

1,000s

Visitors Who Heard Color

380-780

Nanometer Wavelength Range

1st

Government-Recognized Cyborg

Project Data
Title	Neil Harbisson Cyborg Sculpture
Subtitle	Interactive Synesthetic Experience
Year	2016
Collaboration	Neil Harbisson, Isaac Budmen, Stephanie Budmen
Category	Interactive Sculpture, Assistive Technology Art
Technology	3D scanning (infrared), large-scale 3D printing, custom electronics
Finish	Bronze coating (referencing historical monuments)
Scale	1:1 life-size with functional antenna
Functionality	Interactive color-to-sound conversion via sonochromatic scale
Sonochromatic Range	Visible light spectrum (380-780 nm) + infrared/ultraviolet
Locations	Barcelona, Dublin, Singapore, Germany, Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC)
Impact	Thousands of visitors have experienced synesthetic color-hearing
Philosophy	Experience teaches better than explanation