Luisen Zela-Koort
Natural Factories: Oklo, 2025
Bronze casted digital relief
20 x 14 cm
7 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.
7 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.
Unique
Courtesy of the artist, Brooke Benington and N.A.S.A.L
Further images
1.7 Billion years ago in Oklo, Gabon, the Earth naturally created the first nuclear reactor, operated through a self-sustaining chain reaction of nuclear fission, similar to a modern reactor. Rainwater...
1.7 Billion years ago in Oklo, Gabon, the Earth naturally created the first nuclear reactor, operated through a self-sustaining chain reaction of nuclear fission, similar to a modern reactor. Rainwater acted as a moderator, seeping into the Uranium rich clay deposits, slowing down neutrons to initiate and maintain the fission process. Meanwhile, the heat generated caused the water to boil away, effectively shutting down the reaction. This created a self-regulating cycle where the reactor would shut down and cool down before restarting as the water returned. The relief shows the inner workings of a fantastical power plant, from another timeline, from a reality where technology operates as a tool of communion instead of exploitation of the natural world: What if we had existed parallel to this reactor, what if we could take advantage of the natural productive processes to imagine horizontal relationships with all living beings? The relief thus integrates the geology of Oklo with speculative technology, in a format reminiscent of graphic novels and scientific diagrams, to craft new narratives and characterisations of Nature which reject human exceptionalism.
