‘SPECULUM’

A digital triptych inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, ‘Speculum’ is a mirror of the present day. Always-on technology, ubiquitous branding, environmental collapse; SMACK call out contemporary ills using 3D animation and shrewd references to popular culture.

Hieronymus Bosch for the digital age

‘Speculum’ comprises three panels — Eden, Paradise and Hell — and is the result of a three-year project initiated in 2016. As part of the Hieronymus Bosch 500-year anniversary, the Stedelijk Museum Breda (formerly the Museum of the Image / MOTI) commissioned SMACK to create an artwork after ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’. The result was ‘Paradise’, based on the central panel of Bosch’s masterpiece.

While lust takes centre stage in the original artwork, SMACK’s ‘Paradise’ calls out the excesses of 21st-century society. Sex is ever-present, with rows of penis-horse riders circling mid-screen; branded packaging blights the landscape, while in the foreground a Gangnam Style dancer seeks thumbs up approval. This is a garden of superegos, where each self-obsessed character is locked inside their own loop.

From ‘Paradise’ to ‘Speculum’

With support from Onkaos, SMACK built on the success of ‘Paradise’ to develop the side panels, ‘Eden’ and ‘Hell’, completing ‘Speculum’ in 2019.

Eden is described by SMACK as “Silicon Valley inside out,” an oasis of pastel-coloured calm reminiscent of an amusement park about to open. ‘Hell’, meanwhile, is a projection of our deepest fears, where hashtags and surveillance cameras populate a landscape of everlasting tortures.

‘Speculum’ forms part of the permanent holdings of Colección SOLO and is displayed at the collection’s private museum, Espacio SOLO, Madrid.