RSA43
Steel, found objects, 2K enamel
2 000 x 1 265 x 1 800 mm
2021
The 1987 film RoboCop was set in 2043 – the year I will turn 65, a traditional deadline for retirement from professional life. In 1990, I was 12 years old and apart from being largely unaware of the state of emergency boiling all around me in that autarkic circumstance called apartheid, I watched RoboCop repeatedly on VHS to the point that the magnetic tape snapped. I am not sure why I kept viewing this odd film, but I sense the effect is unfolding. The film's opening scene features a fictional news broadcast with a lead story on Pretoria as a city-state in 2043 threatening to use a French-made neutron bomb against political opponents to white-minority rule.
FARO™ RLV 3-10
Laser-cut mild steel, found and bought objects, epoxy, enamel paint
2300 x 1600 x 2460 mm
2012
FARO RLV 3-10 is a fictional, unmanned field artillery cannon (Remote Land Vehicle) of the Nigerian Federal Army in the year 2028, conceived, designed and manufactured by the artist, principally in mild steel. Informing the work is the idea that, in all probability, the United States will in our lifetime engage in military activities against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the rubric of ensuring security, peace and stability in the country and the region - at the same time actively securing a reliable source of scarce energy. Faro RLV 3-10 aims to manifest a mechanical, physical resistance to this imperial expansion from a possible future Nigerian state, which might one day build its own defence and military hardware rather than draining domestic GDP by importing such technology and consumables. The (fictional) history of the RLV 3-10 is that it was designed and manufactured by FARO™ (Nigerian Military Industries) in Abuja in 2028, and saw active service in peace-keeping missions to Sudan (2030) and in both US invasions of Nigeria - Operation Sovereign (2032) and Operation Permanent Liberty (2033).
Howizter Fetish
Steel, nails, bolts, tubing, plating, found objects, enamel paint
4800 x 1400 x 3600 mm
2010
Private collection
O1A
Mild steel, enamel, found objects
1 240 x 2 440 x 2 440 mm
2018
O1A is a fictional, anti-personnel droid of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the year 2030, conceived, designed and manufactured by the artist, principally in mild steel. Informing the work is a socio-political critique of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa mired in insitutionalised corruption and mismanagement, in particular Denel SOC Ltd – the South African state-owned aerospace and military technology conglomerate established in 1992.