image / music
In 2026, INDEX challenged the ZABRA collective to create a new work in response to the theme of Power. Developed during an artist residency at gnration, Jeffthielmusk® combines the names of three figures inseparable from today’s technological landscape: Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk.
This performance imagines an era in which the future has become a realm of seduction, where technological narratives—from the colonization of Mars to the promise of immortality, from the rise of Artificial Intelligence to dreams of singularity—are not mere scientific projects, but rather powerful discourses that shape desires, capture attention, and legitimize leadership. Jeffthielmusk® proposes a critical investigation of how the fiction of the future becomes an instrument of power, how the fascination with the impossible creates contemporary cults of personality, and how the technological promise can function as a mechanism of social control. Inviting us to question the price of believing in the inevitability of technological progress, this artistic proposal challenges us to reflect on the human, social, and political costs of succumbing to the promises of speculative delusions.
ZABRA – Center for Post-Human Art Research conducts research focused on media arts, encompassing disciplines such as the performing arts, visual arts, and new media art. In its work, technology plays a crucial role in the production or representation of artworks and their impact on the future of society. Through a transdisciplinary approach and an interspecies dialogue, ZABRA explores post-nature for contemporary creation and encourages each artist to develop their own interpretation of art, technology, and science, to transform it and delve into uncharted territory.
creation carincur and joão pedro fonseca
performance carincur and joão pedro fonseca
sound carincur
lighting design joão pedro fonseca
video joão pedro fonseca
supported by portuguese republic – culture, youth and sports / general direction of the arts. portuguese contemporary art network (rpac). rtcp – network of portuguese theaters and cinemas.
