Exploring Multiple Possible Worlds
The exhibition “Extra-Terrestrial,” curated by Marcela Chao at Zona Maco Lab, transforms Casa Hotbook into a living laboratory where art, science fiction, and human emotions converge to imagine multiple possible futures.
From July 11 to August 17, 2025, Zona Maco Lab presents this curatorial experience at Casa Hotbook, gathering artists from various disciplines such as astronomy, robotics, artificial intelligence, fashion, photography, and dissent. The exhibition invites visitors to embark on a speculative journey that reflects on otherness, normality, and belonging.
Curatorial Concept
The title “Extra-Terrestrial” plays with the idea of looking from outside, not just from the planet but also from what is normative. Chao proposes that the curatorial concept starts with an openness towards different ways of inhabiting time and space, questioning the assumed imaginaries.
“I want the works to function as thought and sensation triggers, expanding the horizon of what’s possible and activating questions rather than answers,” explains Chao.
Dialogues Between Science, Emotion, and Dissent
The selection of artists responds to a spiraling narrative that begins with science and moves towards more intimate and subjective dimensions. Ale de la Puente and Julia Carrillo anchor the journey from an astronomical perspective; Julien Lombardi scales up the planetary with macro rock photography; Rodrigo Garrido reflects on emotionality in robots, and Eduardo Thomas, along with Lila Pesadilla, unfolds a nostalgic extraterrestrial archive in memorabilia format.
What’s interesting about Chao’s proposal is her intention to bring together languages that enrich each other rather than canceling one another out: hard science fiction coexists with speculative fiction, relational art with conceptual art, social critique with the fantastical. Romeo Gómez López draws inspiration from David Foster Wallace, while artists like Lila Pesadilla, Urmeer, and Santiago Gómez propose alternative worlds from the affective, queer, and tender perspectives.
Future, Mental Health, and Art as a Refuge
More than offering a single vision of the future, “Extra-Terrestrial” is conceived as an open space for speculation, where visitors—without technical knowledge—can explore their possible futures. For Chao, contemporary art is a symbolic laboratory where one can process traumas, fears, and contradictions:
“We are going through a delicate moment in terms of collective mental health. I want art to offer other ways of looking at the world, imagining possibilities beyond outdated templates that don’t fit our climatic reality or its social consequences.”
Through her background in psychology, Chao proposes that art be a perceptual and intuitive experience rather than an exclusively intellectual one. In a context of digital overexposure, environmental crisis, and collective confusion, she insists on the value of critical imagination as a vital political act.
Embracing the Unknown
Zona Maco Lab defines itself as a “living laboratory,” not a traditional exhibition, which for Chao implies taking risks and actively listening to both artists and the audience. The exhibition is designed for children, young people, and adults, with no knowledge barriers, aiming to spark questions, emotions, or mere intuitions. Chao summarizes it this way: “If something moves inside, even slightly, the laboratory has succeeded.”
“Extra-Terrestrial” achieves something rare and deeply needed in contemporary art: opening a space of sensitivity without losing conceptual density, bringing together science and tenderness, technology and dissent, speculation and memory. In a world where commerce dominates art’s logic, this exhibition stands as a bold invitation to imagine—with affection and without fear—more creative and critical ways of inhabiting the uncertain in a tangible and introspective manner.
Location and Hours
- Casa Hotbook
- Monte Líbano 280, Lomas de Chapultepec, CDMX
- Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; Saturday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, Sunday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.
