Fail
2025
Bronze
2,8 x 7 x 3,4 cm (sculpture) / 100 x 30 x 30 cm (plinth)
All images © Fábio Colaço
2025
Bronze
2,8 x 7 x 3,4 cm (sculpture) / 100 x 30 x 30 cm (plinth)
All images © Fábio Colaço
This is a sculptural intervention that
reimagines a miniature Tesla Model S Plaid Hot Wheels car, meticulously cast in
bronze and displayed on a wall plinth in an overturned position, evoking the
aftermath of an accident. This seemingly playful yet deeply ironic work serves
as a critique and a symbol of contemporary disillusionment, in the context of
the growing wave of protests against Elon Musk. By translating a mass-produced
toy — an object associated with childhood fantasies of speed and technological
marvel — into a heavy and immutable bronze artifact, the piece subverts its
original connotations of progress and aspiration. The deliberate staging of the
overturned car amplifies this rupture, transforming an icon of success and
innovation into a symbol of failure, instability and unintended consequences.
Charged with political and cultural resonance, this work deals with the
contradictions of modern techno-utopianism, where promises of a brighter future
often collide with the realities of power, labor exploitation and corporate
overreach. In this frozen moment of wreckage, the work invites reflection on
the fragility of unchecked ambition, questioning the narratives that drive
contemporary capitalism and the mythos surrounding its most polarizing figures. Curiously, the first time this work was presented on the first day of ARCO Lisboa 2025, it gained a new layer of meaning because Elon Musk announced his exit from the US government role after breaking with Trump on tax bill.