Belgian artist Tom Herck opened his 10-meter installation “Once We Ruled the World” in the garden of the Palazzo Balbi Valier on April 17 at 4 p.m. in front of the public, clearly visible from the Canale Grande.

The Sint-Truiden-based artist reminds us “sic transit gloria mundi”. Dinosaurs, giant creatures, became extinct 66 million years ago, giving way to homo sapience, which became the most predatory creature on Earth. Man thinks he is the king of nature and interferes with its laws. The black skeleton, thanks to the black paint applied at dusk, turns into its own X-ray. Unfortunately, the laws of Venice interfered with Tom’s plans and the artist was not allowed to realize this effect “due to the limitations of local rules”. It’s a pity, the idea is great – the vaporettos are passing by the black, black skeleton and the impression would have been fairy-tale. Also Herck complained about problems with the qr-code, which gives information about the installation and is installed to the left of the Palazzo gate on the canal and can be scanned from the water tram.

So, a human skeleton (vanitas in the European artistic tradition) holds, as if on a fishing rod (the artist alludes to the selfie phone holder we all travel with today). We live in a total digital space and Tom reminds us to live in the moment. Just like in the olden days. The skeleton skull is an exact cast of the artist’s own skull – he used a scan of his own head. The human ego is so big that symbolically it’s dinosaur-sized. Tho Herk teases homo sapience, including self-irony, but with sympathy for his, i.e. our, emotions.

Interestingly, dinosaurs invariably attract the interest of mankind, like no other extinct creature in the world. Among oligarch collectors today it is very fashionable to buy a skeleton of archaic reptiles.

During a week in Venice at the Art Biennale, we managed to get used to the giant skeleton and wait for its appearance while riding the vaporetto.