Theia Paradigm: Colonizing the Moon as Political Critique in Rome

On March 6, 2026, Liminal Space in Rome's Ostiense district opens 'Theia Paradigm,' an immersive exhibition by Gregorio De Luca Comandini and Saverio Villirillo. The project simulates a lunar colony as a critical device to interrogate present-day issues through speculative future scenarios. Running until April 25, the exhibition combines digital and physical environments, including an aptitude test on the artists' website that simulates selection for the colony, and immersive installations. The work continues the artists' exploration of 'lunarpunk' aesthetics, following their 2023 'Solarpunk' show at Gres Art in Bergamo. The colony is depicted as a technocratic system where a permanent state of emergency justifies surveillance and control. A central ethical dilemma involves a native lunar being, S3NTIN3L, captured during an exploration mission, forcing the colony's technical-scientific committee to decide between exploitation for survival or liberation. The exhibition uses generative AI to animate avatars and simulate the colony, critiquing both technological power and the biases of centralized AI platforms. Visitors vote on the committee's decision in the Control Room, with data collected modeling human behavior under critical conditions. The artists emphasize that the simulation reveals what we are already becoming, not a prediction of the future.