ABOUT — THE NAVIGATION STAR
Acrux is the brightest star of the Southern Cross — the star sailors used to find the south celestial pole. Intermedia is Dick Higgins' name for the art that falls between existing media. We took both words literally.
01 — WHAT WE DO
ACRUX INTERMEDIA STUDIO builds works that sit between categories: an installation that is also an argument, a research prototype that is also a room, an interface that is also a deity. Whatever the form, the rule is the same — it has to actually work. Every piece we show is built, installed, or live.
The studio works across interactive installation, exhibition design, generative and real-time visuals, sound, and creative technology.
02 — HOW WE WORK
Each work begins as a question — what happens to people's values when there is no one to appeal to? how does meaning survive transmission? — and the artifact is how we ask it in public. We prototype early, test with real audiences, and treat the exhibition floor as part of the study.
This is why our commissions come with unusual rigor: user testing, documentation, and iteration are not add-ons, they are the method.
03 — PRINCIPAL
ACRUX is led by Yue Yao, an HCI researcher, interaction designer, and interactive artist based in Boston. Their research examines how design can accompany people through long transitions — how values, sense of self, and understanding of the world keep shifting across a life.
04 — COMPANY