Meta-Mythical Optimisation: An Exhibition by Chino Moya
Chino Moya, one of the artists-in-residence at SOLO—an international project supporting contemporary creation based in Madrid—presents his exhibition Meta-Mythical Optimisation at Seventeen Gallery in London.
Meta-Mythical Optimisation consists of twelve video works depicting isolated figures dressed in utilitarian fabrics, performing slow, subtle, and deliberate movements. Each figure is set against a static landscape filled with geometric architecture, arches, domes, and a stripped-down classicism that evokes both the totalitarian regimes of the past and utopian futures.
The structure of the images alludes to the language of Renaissance painting, transposed into a post-labour future, representing a priestly class of technocrats. The precise gestures of these robed figures suggest a meditative state, reinforced by a dreamlike drone that rises and falls in intensity throughout the gallery’s rooms.
The slow crescendo of sound is interrupted by the narrator of a far more unsettling film by Moya, emerging from the depths of the gallery. A familiar, reassuring voice unfolds a story, weaving together and unravelling “future” events and their cascading ramifications. In this film, the camera gains movement, traversing foul landscapes and polluted seas.
This world is inhabited by cadaverous avatars, confined within their virtual domestic spaces—opulent and lavishly decorated in the Rococo style. In stark contrast to the other works, narrative and movement allow the viewer to unravel the story of this world, replacing our initial reading of a purely technopragmatic future—with its implications of post-labour, post-hunger, and post-pain. Here, office work has somehow become a nostalgic leisure sport.
“Deemona is the first project in my series on alternative realities.” Moya
The exhibition, open to the public until 1 March, marks a deeper exploration of Moya’s Deemona universe through a multidisciplinary approach that challenges and redefines the dichotomy between utopia and dystopia, drawing closer to the concept of ambitopia, coined by Redfern Jon Barrett.
Through this vision, Moya depicts a world in which humans are the last remaining complex living beings, existing in a later and more radical stage of the Anthropocene. At this point, humans are finally alone—at peace—having transcended their former nature into a paradise of complete optimisation.
Organised by Seventeen in collaboration with our Onkaos programme, this exhibition highlights Moya’s ability to challenge conventional visions of the future, forging connections between mythology, technology, and cultural transformation.
Featured Works
Chino Moya, Technomater, 2025
4K video, single channel, loop. Dimensions: 210 x 84 x 10 cm
Chino Moya, Unitive Knowledge of the System’s Dynamic, 2025
4K video, single channel, loop. Dimensions: 219 x 175 x 10 cm
Chino Moya, Eumeswil, 2025
4K video, single channel, loop. Dimensions: 124 x 73 x 10 cm
Chino Moya, Metapope, 2025
4K video, single channel, loop. Dimensions: 230 x 84 x 10 cm
Chino Moya, Managerial Transmutation, 2025
4K video, three channels, loop. Dimensions: 293 x 97 x 10 cm
Chino Moya, Three Fluctuations, 2025
Single-channel video with sound. Duration: 7 min 4 sec
About Chino Moya
Chino Moya (Madrid, 1976) lives and works in London, creating work that spans feature films, video installations, sculptures, and photography.
He has exhibited at international institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where his current exhibition, Digital Witness, shares its title with one of his works. Other venues include the Stadtmuseum Sindelfingen in Germany, the Steinhauser Gallery in Slovakia, Espacio SOLO (Madrid), and the Voltaje art and technology fair in Bogotá, Colombia.
In 2021, Moya premiered his debut feature film, “Undergods”, funded by the British Film Institute and Ridley Scott’s Black Dog Films. Released in cinemas across the US and the UK, it was selected as Film of the Week by The Guardian and received critical acclaim from The New York Times, the BBC, and other publications. His previous short films have won awards and been screened at festivals worldwide.
“Nothing defines an era better than its science fiction films.” Moya
(*) Images courtesy of Espacio SOLO.
