Andre and Ndakasi
silkscreen with gold leaf on paper 2021
Plot
In 2035, gorillas went extinct, along with many other wild animal species.
In 2050, The gorilla doctors and the local government did everything they could to get information from the preserved last gorilla Koko’s body. The brain was intact and they were able to save the information as well.
One of the biggest forests, the Congo rainforest, struggles to mediate the environment's climate and provide quality oxygen. In the same year, The New Energy Corporation tried to develop new forms of energy. They teamed up with the world renowned robotics engineering team lead by Dr. Tariq Bauma (grandson of Dr Andre Bauma) to develop a prototype robot gorilla that could sustain the ecosystem of the forest while preserving the species. The robot was fueled by the Energy Corporation and Engineers collaborative state-of-the-art invention: the lighting battery.
The lithinging battery is a highly efficient powersource, but due to its ability to generate power it can also be dangerous if not handled well. Its power can be more efficient than nuclear energy and require less resources to create but its potential danger is far greater than nuclear energy.
The scientists, lead by Dr Bauma, were able to preserve the last living female gorilla Koko’s brains after her death; its contents were to the robot hardware. The idea was to let the robotic cyborg gorilla essentially perform the same tasks as a natural gorilla: consume the vegetation, help to distribute the seeds, and keep the forest alive. What they programmed the gorilla to do was to consume concrete, metals, and other waste products instead of eating vegetation; the O2 TANK helped to turn the waste into oxygen in an efficient manner.
Dr Bauma came from a family of gorilla doctors, after the extinction of gorillas, he had been working on the gorilla preservation project. His goal was to recreate gorillas as close to the originals as possible. The technology and many other barriers did not allow him to recreate living gorillas, however, it was possible to give the gorilla consciousness a robotic body. Dr Bauma saw the opportunity and worked with The New Energy Corp. and suggested the way to utilize the newly discovered alien resource. He and his team were able to turn the alien tree into usable energy and brought The New Energy Corp. a lot of attention.
Multilayered inkjet on transparent mylar, 60’’x44’’
Digital Painting with Procreate
SLA 3D print figure, 2023
Inkjet on drawing paper, 2023