Artist gets ‘3rd I’ with camera implant

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York University arts professor might not have eyes on the back of his head, but he's coming pretty close.

Wafaa Bilal, a visual artist widely recognized for his interactive and performance pieces, had a small digital camera implanted in the back of his head -- all in the name of art.

Bilal said Tuesday that he underwent the procedure for an art project that was commissioned by a new museum in Doha, Qatar, in the Arab Gulf.

Titled "The 3rd I," it is one of 23 contemporary works commissioned for the opening of the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 30. The exhibition is entitled "Told/Untold/Retold."

"I am going about my daily life as I did before the procedure," the Iraqi-born artist said in a statement.

Bilal, who is teaching three courses this semester at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, will wear the camera for one year. It is 2 inches in diameter and less than an inch thick.