Civilisation One is an illuminated sculpture and is part of the Extra Ordinary exhibition at the Southern Guild Gallery, Cape Town.
Southern Guild launches its 10th anniversary with Extra Ordinary, an exhibition of specially commissioned pieces by a group of multidisciplinary artists, opening 14 February 2018 at its gallery in Cape Town’s Silo District. In the spirit of bold originality that has marked its decadelong journey of pioneering collectible design in South Africa, the gallery invited the makers to produce exploratory new work that crosses over into other disciplines, materials or technologies.
Civilisation One is an imagining of how human civilisation in the near future might look.
“We are now witnessing the greatest transition in the history of the human race – the transition from a type zero civilisation to a type one civilisation” Michio Kaku a Japanese/American theoretical physicist, futurist and populariser of science on the Kardashev scale that categorised civilisations by their ability to harness energy.
A type one civilisation has the ability to maximise the energy striking a planet from its local star and it is speculated that humans will attain this status within a century or two. We are already familiar with high rise buildings and this piece takes the idea a step further to that of a vertical city.
Also at play is a theme that runs through much of my work – that of the theatricality of the object itself, of interactivity and playfulness.
The material is hard wood – Kiaat. I have used traditional joinery and a traditional method using only a table saw rather than more modern tools. This is in contrast with the futuristic theme of the work and speaks of our humanity.
Material: Wood – Kiaat
Dimensions: 780mm x 700mm x 2950mm height