In 2021, El Salvador became the world’s first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. President Nayib Bukele claimed the move would increase prosperity, yet only a tiny percentage of the Salvadoran population made use of the cryptocurrency. The failed venture has since been criticized by scholars and citizens for widening inequality in the nation, displacing local communities and exacerbating its environmental and water crises.
The subject of crypto-colonialism in the Global South arises in Salvadoran artist Simón Vega’s exhibition, ‘Tiempos Cíclicos / Futuros Pasados’ (Cyclical Times / Past Futures) at Albarrán Bourdais gallery in Madrid. Snaking down the gallery’s staircase is a textile floor-based sculpture, Serpiente Kukulkán (all works 2026). The form is inspired by Kukulkán, the Maya feathered serpent deity associated with cycles of nature and agriculture, whose head is fashioned here from scraps of wood, aluminium and shoe rubber, while its ‘skin’ is sewn with the logos of Bitcoin, Google Maps and Western Union. Imprinted onto this mythical being, these symbols evoke the footprint of neoliberal capitalism on Indigenous economies, territories and land autonomy.
Such revisitations of pre-Hispanic belief systems pervade Vega’s new works. The ring-shaped metal wall sculpture Marcador de juego de pelota FIFA (FIFA Ballgame Marker) is inspired by an ancient Mesoamerican ball game, while Altar solar (Sun Altar), a similarly shaped object positioned on the floor, references the Stone of Tizoc, a monolithic Aztec sun shrine. Inscribed with the logos of companies like FIFA, Disney, ChatGPT and Coca-Cola, Vega’s works expose the contemporary counterparts to ancestral systems of power, rivalry and ceremony.
These two works sit alongside Zoomorfo (Zoomorph), a large-scale installation that recalls Maya zoomorphs found mainly in Guatemala: monumental boulders engraved with hybrid mammals, reptiles and amphibians, symbolizing cosmic renewal. Vega recreates these hulking forms using stacks of wooden shipping pallets, whose pliability, disposable utilitarianism and association with modern global trading contrasts against the permanence of stone in the original monoliths. A portal at the front invites viewers to enter installation, revealing a sanctuary filled with monsteras, palms and sansevierias – a temporary retreat from the more hostile aluminium motifs that clad the structure’s exterior.
Wooden pallets also line the gallery’s lower ground floor. As the timber creaks and wobbles underfoot, viewers encounter Vega’s hand-crafted wood figurines among rocks and shells in a small, sunken pit, as though excavating ceremonial objects. Inspired by the temples of Teotihuacan in Mexico, this layout provides the setting for Senderos (Trails), an animated film that moves through settings ranging from prehistoric jungles to apocalyptic cities. As each era gives way to the next, a superimposed Maya calendar flickers; by contrasting ancestral philosophies of cyclical time against Western narratives of linear progress, Vega warns of the devastation that the latter can wreak.
Vega’s archaeological research also led him to the stelae, carved obeliscal stone statues commemorating Maya rulers. His own sculptural imitations are made using debris sourced from junkyards: Estela del Gobernante S (Stela of Ruler S) is a towering stack of disused parts from household and industrial equipment – from microwaves and toasters to number plates and washing machines. In the place of hieroglyphic engravings are symbols of digital titans like Google, Amazon, TikTok and Tinder, in a wry rendering of the technofeudalist powers that govern contemporary civilization.
By transforming ancient monuments into testaments to present-day industry and commerce, Vega creates a futurist archaeology that seeks to forecast the emblems of our age that will be speculated upon in a world to come. His allusions to cyclical time suggest that histories of authoritarian rule repeat themselves in new forms, while his sculptures lay bare the corporate machinery to which we have been made to submit.
Simón Vega’s ‘Tiempos Cíclicos / Futuros Pasados’ is on view at Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid, until 19 October . Main image: Simón Vega, Senderos, 2026, monochrome animation, installation view. Courtesy: Albarrán Bourdais
