Marguerite Humeau merges design, fiction, science, speculations and phantasms for her project “Proposal for resuscitating prehistoric creatures”, which seeks to recreate extinct animals for a contemporary environment.
Part fiction, part fact, “Proposal for resuscitating prehistoric creatures” sets up the rebirth of cloned creatures, their wandering and their sound epic in order to give people insight into how majestic creatures once were.
Known for her science fiction, semi-real creations the French designer has translated her project into essays, posters, a book, a series of drawings, an installation, an opera and soon an album, all with the help of palaeontologists, zoologists, veterinarians, engineers, explorers, surgeons, ear and throat specialists and radiologists.
The designer, who has become the heroine of a quasi-mystic epic journey, aims to resuscitate the sound of prehistoric creatures by reconstructing their vocal tract.
The challenge facing Humeau is the lack of available data, as soft tissue does not fossilise.
The ongoing project will see the epic construction of three roaring creatures – a Mammoth Imperator, an Entelodont aka Terminator Pig and an Ambulocetus “Walking Wale”.
