Cadáver fantasma — Andrew Roberts

In his artistic practice, Andrew Roberts uses video game development software and 3D modelling to create fictional universes that investigate cultural archetypes found in the literary genres of horror and fantasy, in roleplaying games and in other expressions of globalized culture. The artist’s projects appropriate the forms of digital production to hack their technologies, while also addressing the dynamics of the US-Mexico border and other aspects of the regime of late capitalism that affect our sensibilities.

Spectral corpse, a video installation produced for the MUAC, builds a fictional narrative of a zombie apocalypse that took place in 2006. Four living dead teenagers speak to the cataclysm through pop culture references and the violent sociopolitical context of the first decade of the twenty-first century in Tijuana and the north of Mexico. This piece explores the rise of a generational sensibility and its connection to death as a spectral entity through the creation of mortal programming in the digital world, as well as its repercussions on our flesh-and-blood bodies, in the context of violence exacerbated by war and economic systems built on death.

Text by Jaime González Solís

Cadáver fantasma [Spectral corpse], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. 29’. Music by Espectro Caudillo (Reuben Torres).

Excerpt from Cadáver fantasma [Spectral corpse], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. 29’. Music by Espectro Caudillo (Reuben Torres).

Cadáver fantasma [Spectral corpse], Installation view at Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, MUAC, Mexico City, 2025.

Círculo de invocación: más allá de tu muerte, un día, la Tierra gira en el cielo [Circle of invocation: beyond your death, one day, the Earth turns in the sky], 2025. Automotive paint on PLA 3D print, resin 3D prints, chairs, backpacks. Variable dimensions.

Necromancia algorítmica: cuadras el ojo con el pixel [Algorithmic necromancy: you fix your eye on the pixel], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. Loop.

Necromancia algorítmica: qué confuso placer el metal que se aferra a tu carne [Algorithmic necromancy: such confusing pleasure of metal clinging to your flesh], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. Loop.

Necromancia algorítmica: los polígonos sobre tu cuerpo se derriten [Algorithmic necromancy: the polygons of your body melt], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. Loop.

Necromancia algorítmica: órganos colapsan a procesador [Algorithmic necromancy: organs collapse into a processor], 2025. 4K digital animation, color, sound, 60fps. Loop.

Cuervos en bucle: qué horror despertar en la noche [Corvid loops: what horror to awake at night], 2025. 4 PLA 3D prints. 20 × 43 × 40 cm c/u — 7 ¾ × 17 × 15 ¾ in. each one.

Demontología Doom Slayer: el petróleo excede malicia [Doom Slayer Demontology: oil transcends malice], 2025. Automotive paint on PLA 3D print, resin 3D prints, chair and backpack. 45 × 65 × 95 cm — 17 ¾ × 25 ½ × 37 ½ in.

Demontología Doom Slayer: mecánica bio-infernal [Doom Slayer Demontology: bioinfernal mechanics] , 2025. Automotive paint on PLA 3D print, resin 3D prints, chair and backpack. 45 × 65 × 95 cm — 17 ¾ × 25 ½ × 37 ½ in.

Demontología Doom Slayer: fondos negros que emanan render [Doom Slayer Demontology: black backgrounds emanating renders] , 2025. Automotive paint on PLA 3D print, resin 3D prints, chair and backpack. 45 × 65 × 95 cm — 17 ¾ × 25 ½ × 37 ½ in.

Demontología Doom Slayer: moscas de silicio comen tu carroña [Doom Slayer Demontology: silicon flies feast on your carcass] , 2025. Automotive paint on PLA 3D print, resin 3D prints, chair and backpack. 45 × 65 × 95 cm — 17 ¾ × 25 ½ × 37 ½ in.

Cadáver fantasma [Spectral corpse], Installation view at Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, MUAC, Mexico City, 2025. All photos by Ramiro Cháves.