CHELLA MAN, THE DEVICE THAT TURNED ME INTO A CYBORG WAS BORN THE SAME YEAR I WAS, 2023
“Co-commissioned by Sydney’s Powerhouse museum, short film The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was, explores actor and director Chella Man’s relationship with the cochlear implant, and the nuances of life on a continuum between the deaf and hearing worlds. Fed by his experiences as a deaf, transgender, gender-queer creative, the film traces his journey to a strengthened understanding of his identity, and the multitudinous social convergence points he has been forced to navigate as a result.
Animated through the stories they tell, objects from the Powerhouse collection are told by those who have the most intimate and personal connections to them. Home to the prototype of Dr Graeme Clark’s ‘gold box’ cochlear implant and its subsequent modern advancements, the collection also explores the complex contradictions that exist between science, disability and identity. Debating the constraints of machinery, The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was investigates the immobilizing feeling of living and breathing as a cyborg, and the identity conflicts that can occur as a consequence.
By studying how something seemingly life-changing can, in fact, limit progress, The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was considers the cochlear implant’s existence as a symbol of integration and assimilation. Concluding the device can be used as a neutral tool, at times it is liberating – other times, constraining. Oscillating between daydream and nightmare, as Man steps into his autonomy as a deaf adult, the film explores the embrace of devices developed with ableist intentions, and the complicated journey that accompanies the experience of hearing through them.Animated through the stories they tell, objects from the Powerhouse collection are told by those who have the most intimate and personal connections to them. Home to the prototype of Dr Graeme Clark’s ‘gold box’ cochlear implant and its subsequent modern advancements, the collection also explores the complex contradictions that exist between science, disability and identity. Debating the constraints of machinery, The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was investigates the immobilizing feeling of living and breathing as a cyborg, and the identity conflicts that can occur as a consequence.
By studying how something seemingly life-changing can, in fact, limit progress, The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was considers the cochlear implant’s existence as a symbol of integration and assimilation. Concluding the device can be used as a neutral tool, at times it is liberating – other times, constraining. Oscillating between daydream and nightmare, as Man steps into his autonomy as a deaf adult, the film explores the embrace of devices developed with ableist intentions, and the complicated journey that accompanies the experience of hearing through them.” - Nowness
Interview with Sammy Kim and Chella Man about directing their first sex scene