ONCE WE RULED THE WORLD (2022)

The hand-carved wooden panels trigger nostalgic memories of antique frames. The iconography as well as the lavish Baroque style -finished in 22 carat gold and framed by an elegantly swirling floral garland- are reminiscent of the 17th century Vanitas theme. The skull and dinosaur skeleton attained their black colour through a scorching process, repeatedly symbolizing the balance between creation and destruction within Tom's oeuvre.

Compared to dinosaurs -who ruled the world for millions of years- homo sapiens are a relatively ‘young’ species -emerging ’only’ 300.000 years ago.
Herck questions how we will evolve towards next evolution of the homo sapiens sapiens and how we should deal with this (r)evolution. Over the course of the centuries dinosaurs have been viewed as mythological creatures. Maybe someday humans will experience the same fate.

In this works we see giant human skeletons interacting with life size dinosaur skeletons. The size of the human skeleton is a metaphor for the human ego and shows our own vanity. If dinosaurs hadn’t been wiped out in a mass extinction 66 million years ago, the world would look very different today. Scientists speculate that if humans evolved alongside dinosaurs, they probably would have been able to co-exist.

Dinosaurs in the 21st Century, just like modern animals, would probably have reduced populations and face the threat of extinction. Big dinosaurs would perhaps only persist in protected reserves, such as national parks and wildlife refuges – modern-day equivalents of Jurassic Park. Obviously, we might have domesticated dinosaurs to exploit for meat and eggs or agricultural labour, and we would very likely have taken them into our homes as pets.

One of the defining characteristics of our age is the radical breakdown of the human/animal distinction. In both the popular media and in scientific literature, we are constantly shown new pieces of evidence suggesting that the barriers separating humans from animals are not as impermeable as we thought them to be. Humans are reportedly from the same source as other developed primates like chimpanzees and orangutans. The major difference is that Humanity senses itself above nature, acting against nature’s strict laws that govern the balance and homeostasis life depends on.

We believe that we are masters of our faith. In reality we are pawns in the game of life. Another species, that once ruled the world…