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# Derek Holguin's Ex-Nihilo ii runs inside a pyramid in DTLA
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/derek-holguins-ex-nihilo-ii-runs-inside-a-pyramid-in-dtla/
- Published: 2026-10-23T16:22:31.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T16:22:31.000Z
- Description: A group show at 999 puts the exploration game in an arcade cabinet built by the Apocateca crew, on view through Nov. 6.
- Author: Kill Screen Staff
- Tags: News, Derek Holguin, Ex-Nihilo, 999, los angeles, arcade, exhibition, Installation, #radar-item, #events

Event details

When

Fri., Oct. 23 through Fri., Nov. 6, 2026

Where

999, downtown Los Angeles

Two years ago Derek Holguin built *EX NIHILO* for a show at Human Resources in Chinatown: a free-roaming world collaged out of 3D scans of Los Angeles, explored by a faceless caped figure who jumps, flies, and teleports through warped copies of the gallery it premiered in. Since then Holguin has kept [adding realms](https://www.derekholguin.com/works/ex-nihilo?ref=killscreen.com), and the sequel, *Ex-Nihilo ii*, surfaces this week in the most physical way possible.

Per [the announcement](https://www.instagram.com/p/DeumbXXAets/?ref=killscreen.com), the game anchors a group show at 999, a downtown Los Angeles space, running Oct. 23 through Nov. 6 with an opening event this weekend. Holguin shows alongside [Andrew Thomas Huang](https://www.killscreen.com/tag/andrew-thomas-huang/), Dana Dawud, Zoe Alameda, Tiffany Nonaka and 011668, a lineup that puts a self-made videogame on equal footing with some serious moving-image company. *Ex-Nihilo ii* is playable as an arcade cabinet, and the cabinet lives inside a pyramid built for it by the Apocateca crew. A game about navigating impossible architecture, housed in impossible architecture.

Holguin says a full release is coming within months. Until then the first *EX NIHILO* circulates the way an artist's book would: a free download, or a $25 box set with the game on a flash drive and a 32-page zine. 

![Visitors gather around the black pyramid housing the Ex-Nihilo ii arcade cabinet at 999](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/10/999-show-pyramid.jpg)

The Apocateca crew's pyramid at 999\. Image: Derek Holguin

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/10/999-show-flyer.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/10/999-pyramid-film-1.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/2026/10/999-pyramid-film-2.jpg)

The show flyer and the pyramid under construction. Images: Derek Holguin

Killscreen finds the games that turn up where games are not supposed to be: galleries, pyramids, former coal mines. The Radar brings you three short issues like this every week, free.

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