ABOUT ARTIST:

Henk Rogers is a Dutch-born entrepreneur and clean energy visionary, who has dedicated the past decade of his career to the research, development, advocacy and implementation of renewable energy sources in his adopted home of Hawaii. He has been a leading global advocate for space exploration as the Chairman of the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems and the founder of the International MoonBase Alliance, a group dedicated to building the first sustainable human settlement on the moon. 

Mr. Rogers spent his early career in Japan as a video game developer and publisher, gaining distinction for producing the country’s first role-playing game, The Black Onyx. Rogers has revolutionised the video game industry by securing the rights for the blockbuster Tetris, which 30 years later remains a bestseller and global icon of gaming culture.

SUBMISSION: The Stone

“The Stone ” will be the first truly man-made object on the Moon. The work features a kidney stone surrounded by diamonds. It juxtaposes what we deem valuable, and what we think is creepy. In essence, diamonds which are rocks we find in the ground are contrasted with kidney stones, which are rocks we create inside our body and “delivered” with great pain. 

The Stone is a piece of gold jewelry with a “stone” as its centerpiece, surrounded by small diamonds, like an engagement ring. It consists of a flat 10mm square base with a “post” in the middle holding up a “setting”. This “setting” prongs on a ring / pendant which aids in holding the diamond in place. The main feature is a 6 mm stone that looks like a tiny asteroid. This is a man-made stone. In fact, I created this stone inside of my own body. It’s a kidney stone.

Kidney stones are controversial objects. Oftentimes, when I show someone one of my kidney stones, I always get a weird reaction. People treat it like it’s radioactive because of how it was “delivered”. Babies are delivered in a similar way and people adore them. Kidney stones are generally destroyed in a lab to find out what they’re made of. Disregarding the misconceptions, I kept mine. I’m a man. Having a kidney stone is the closest I will ever come to having a baby. “The Stone” is my baby.