The ultimate theory

The Mount Chiliad mural is a mysterious drawing painted on the interior wall of the cable car station at the summit of the highest mountain in the virtual world of the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Since its release in 2013, the unknown meaning of the graffiti —although not relevant to the title’s central story— has led a multitude of players to develop extensive decoding theories which, published in specialized blogs and YouTube videos, have expanded the mystery and curiosity.

The clear formal coincidence discovered when overlaying the image of the mural and that of Puig Major (the highest mountain on the island of Mallorca and where a multitude of UFO sightings were documented during the seventies) forces the search to extend from the fictional realm of the video game to the real-world plane of the island.

“The Ultimate Theory” is an investigation carried out using archives from local newspapers of the time, internet forums, second-hand specialized books, declassified reports from the Spanish Ministry of Defense, television programs about paranormal phenomena, and field research on the island of Mallorca, hinting at a possible resolution of the virtual mural through the folk tales of UFOs that occurred in the late seventies in the northwestern part of the island of Mallorca.

Project produced with the support of Homesession, Sala d’Art Jove, and the Balearic Youth Institute.
Poster design: Gina Guasch and Pau Geis.