XTRUX

The “Black Museum” exhibition combines physical sculptures with a real-time interactive game created using a game engine, seeking to reconfigure the perceptual state of contemporary humanity and pose reflexive questions about technology. The exhibition projects the allegory of Sisyphus from classical mythology—who, through cunning, attempted to evade death and attain eternity, only to be ultimately condemned to eternal labor—onto the contemporary technological landscape. The original intent behind humanity’s various technological inventions was to free us from the fate and cycle of reality; yet, within the accelerating cycle of techno-capitalism, are we facing a different form of eternal penance unique to our generation? In this context, what kind of subjectivity have we defined for ourselves? Who are the producers of technology, and who is the Sisyphus trapped in the cycle? Against this backdrop, the spatial configuration of the “museum” and Sisyphus’s temporal penance weave together to form an intriguing intertextual structure. Michel Foucault’s concept of “heterotopia,” now comprehensively overwritten by today’s fragmented online and social media echo chambers, is constantly fissioning and expanding through the information superhighway, gradually blending into the normal spaces of everyday life. This exhibition aims to manually construct a contemporary “heterotopia” at the intersection of the virtual and the real. This museum—where time stands still and the past and future are folded together—offers viewers a space for introspection, inviting them to reexamine the concept of “alienation” and to reenact and reinterpret this contemporary allegory of the interplay between humanity and technology.

About the Artist

XTRUX focuses on the transformation of lifestyles driven by digital identities and the expansion of technology-enabled imagery. The team specializes in developing new forms of virtual and immersive media performances, utilizing game engines, motion capture, sound and light spatial sculptures, interactive installations, audiovisuals, and more. Since its founding in 2020, XTRUX has launched a series of immersive events that blend technology with experimental electronic music, pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary art and actively embracing collaborations across various industries and disciplines to expand the possibilities of contemporary art. XTRUX has also been an artist-in-residence at the Taipei Digital Art Center and has created and collaborated on works showcased at numerous prestigious events, including the LEV Festival in Spain, the Linz Electronic Arts Festival, the TCCF Creative Content Fest, the C-LAB Sound Arts Festival, the C-LAB Future Vision Lab, the Synergy Festival, the Glowball Festival, and many others.