"Últimos Habitantes Conscientes del Moderno Macondo" by Top Kabana

"Últimos Habitantes Conscientes del Moderno Macondo" (80x60cm). Top Kabana. 2024. Acrylic on canvas. Original Piece.

"Últimos Habitantes Conscientes del Moderno Macondo" (“The Last Conscious Inhabitants of the Modern Macondo”) is a deeply symbolic piece inspired by Cien "Años de Soledad" ("One Hundred Years of Solitude") by Gabriel García Márquez, reflecting on the excessive digitalization of our current era. Set in a dystopian room, it depicts a refuge for the last remnants of human consciousness in a world consumed by technology.

The central character, with a glam aesthetic, reads a book inspired by Melquíades’ parchments while smoking a cigarette and reflecting. Surrounding them are symbols such as a brain, a heart, and an eye, representing key elements of humanity in the face of technological dehumanization. From the book’s pages flow water, butterflies, and golden fish, connecting the piece to the magical universe of the novel.

By the fireplace, another figure burns their smartphone, symbolizing rejection of an unbridled technological system. The room’s green walls feature cave paintings: on the left, they evoke humanity’s past; on the right, bloody depictions of figures hunched over their screens reveal our growing subjugation to technology. Outside the room, alienated individuals chained to their phones have lost their real identities, while one faceless figure has a smartphone for a face.

The protagonist, with a snake coiled around their arm symbolizing the temptation of digital networks, invites viewers to reflect on their relationship with technology. The artwork urges a reconnection with our essence, advocating self-development over digital dependence, offering a profound critique of contemporary reality.