Tribe series – ‘Tribe – Apex’

Tribe – Apex: the scramble to nowhere

Greed, ambition and the fear of missing out are all expressed in ‘Tribe – Apex’, a generative digital work in which countless Tribe characters scramble to the summit of an ever-changing heap. Once there, they fall straight back to the bottom, condemned to a never-ending cycle of futile competition.

As in ‘Tribe – Tower’, the protagonists are colourless, forming a hypnotic mass of greyish white which raises questions about individual identity and mass behaviour. Their movements, however, are more animal-like as they desperately clamber upwards, reflecting the dehumanising effects of an existence centred exclusively on reaching the top. Drawing on Northern Renaissance paintings such as Pieter Bruegel’s ‘The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day’ (c. 1565) and ‘The Haywain’ (c. 1516) by Hieronymus Bosch, ‘Tribe – Apex’ harnesses game engine software to present satirical comment on human behaviour.

→ About Tribe series: The Power of the Group Before the Mirror

For Tribe, SMACK developed a population of approximately 300 digitally animated characters, ranging from walking periscopes and swastika-wearing bugs to multi-headed aristocrats and muscle-bound machos. Each allows for variations in texture and colour, enabling the artists to deploy customised versions in different scenarios including ‘Tribe – City’, ‘Tribe – War’, ‘Tribe – Apex’ or ‘Tribe – Tower’, while individual portraits are brought together in collections such as ‘Tribe: Golden Circle Characters’.

Many of these characters were developed during the COVID pandemic and reflect behavioural tropes associated with this time. “People were living in their own safety bubbles,” explains Ton Meijdam. “A lot have suits on because they’re afraid to interact with other people,” while others are walking hand-sanitisers, robot cleaning products and super-hero medics.

Various characters are recurring favourites, already present in ‘SPECULUM’. These include an oversized head with robot legs and SMACK’s updated version of the Venus of Willendorf, created by blending images of the Palaeolithic fertility figure with footage of Kim Kardashian. What they all have in common, says Meijdam, is an inflated ego: “They carry this message saying, “Look at me! I’m very important.”