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REX


Coprolite (fossilised excrement) on aluminium.

46 x 13 x 2 cm.

Part of the exhibition The Demented King.


2019


This sculpture has the distinct shape of the knife-through-head Halloween costume. Its matte brushed surface is spotless and clean.  Little coprolites protrude from either side of the knives handle, like gemstones decorating this zombie crown for the demented king.


The coprolites can be seen as concrete metaphors for actions or inventions that surpass their creators' comprehension and have unintended consequences: Maybe 10,000 years ago, someone took a dump, but the result didn't disappear, as these things usually do, so now we're left to deal with the shit.


The title The Demented King is borrowed from the philosopher Nick Bostrom's description of a future, in which humankind controls a super-intelligent machine – in much the same way that our evolutionarily underdeveloped reptile brain insures that the newer and much cleverer neocortex still keeps reproduction and finding food as its main goals.With this image of the future the artist points to man-made systems and inventions across historical time, which surpass the comprehension of their creators – such as post-colonial tourism, global warming and the reality of the international stock market, which we all exist within but aren't able to make predictions on with any noteworthy accuracy. And in the future humans might invent artificial intelligence that could totally overpower us – comparing to humans as humans do to flies. How would we control such a giant?

Photo: David Stjernholm