“Man kann mit einem Computer Kunst und Schönheit schaffen”, says the OG hacker ethics (“You can create art and beauty on a computer.”) and nothing embodies this better than the Nxt Museum in Amsterdam. While the Museum of Digital Art in Zurich perished during the pandemic, the Nxt Museum opened its doors in 2020 and persisted. Its latest exhibition caught me again with my mouth open and a “holy sh…” under my breath.

One of its current installations, “All-together-now” (2025) by Children of the Light, takes a scientific breakthrough from 2019 and turns it into an art experience. In that year, the first-ever image of a black hole was published, made even more famous by the researcher Katie Bouman, whose delighted expression at the breakthrough went viral. Thanks to the artists, we now stand in a room with five huge halos. Each of them turns at an individual speed, emits white and amber light, and each round evokes another optical illusion of haze, light, and magic. We essentially relive Katie Bouman’s moment back in 2019: Staring at a small cosmos in wonder and amazement, experiencing pure delight in what human creativity and ingenuity can bring forth.

If you ever visit Amsterdam and are remotely into digital art: The Nxt Museum is worth a tour and every Euro of the ticket. Take your time to sit through all the installations without a smartphone; marvel at the hacker ethic being turned into its finest possible representations. Be aware that many installations contain flashing lights.

Image source: ALL-TOGETHER-NOW (2025) by Children of the Light, Installation, photograph by Maarten Nauw, Nxt Museum. Thank you to Nxt Museum for responding to my inquiry about an image to illustrate this tiny blog entry.

Last modified on 2025-02-09