Derek Holguin's Ex-Nihilo ii runs inside a pyramid in DTLA
A group show at 999 puts the exploration game in an arcade cabinet built by the Apocateca crew, on view through Nov. 6.
- 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, and the sequel, Ex-Nihilo ii, surfaces this week in the most physical way possible.
Per the announcement, 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, 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.
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.
