Digital Preservation
DIGITAL PRESERVATIONRecording grottoes, images, spaces and historical sites to establish a reliable digital foundation for long-term research and reuse.
XUNKU PROJECT · SINCE 2022
A Digital Civilization Initiative Inspired by China’s Grotto Heritage.
Preserving cultural memory while creating new forms
of public experience.
WHY XUNKU
OUR PROPOSITION
Bringing civilizational heritage back into contemporary life.
XUNKU does not reproduce the grotto. It develops an ongoing method spanning digital preservation, appropriate restoration and contemporary experience transformation. Here, technology is not spectacle, but a medium through which civilization can be understood anew.
Appropriate Restoration
APPROPRIATE RESTORATIONWorking within evidence and defined boundaries to make inaccessible or difficult-to-read heritage visible again.
Contemporary Experience Transformation
CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMATIONReturning heritage to contemporary perception and life through cinema, exhibitions, interactive experience and public space.
THE PROJECT SINCE 2022
From grotto image-making research to an evolving digital civilization initiative.
Initiated by artist Yu Zhen in 2022, XUNKU is a long-term artistic project that begins with China’s grotto heritage and explores how digital civilization can be expressed today. Grounded in historical research, digital documentation and asset building, it brings together digital art, science-fiction archaeology, artificial intelligence, real-time imagery and spatial narrative. While respecting the boundaries of cultural heritage and historical evidence, XUNKU preserves, carefully reconstructs and artistically transforms grotto sculpture, space, patterns and cultural memory, gradually connecting immersive cinema, interactive works, XUNKU Art Exhibition, XUNKU Art Station, research and publishing as related public forms through which ancient civilization can be re-entered, understood, experienced and shared.Research, capture and digital assets
Documents, images, sites and histories of image-making inform digital records of space, form, material and cultural context. Source records, restorations and artistic speculation remain distinct.
Intelligent restoration and spatial narrative
Procedural generation, computer vision, AI-assisted processes and manual refinement make damaged information visible in digital space and translate it into experiences that can be entered.
From works to public life
Immersive cinema, games and interaction, XUNKU Art Exhibition and XUNKU Station share one research base, asset system and narrative universe.
- 2022Project initiatedA long-term direction connecting grotto image-making, digital art and science-fiction archaeology.
- 2024Media expandedWorks including Eight Phases, Sacred Images of the Mountains, Evolution of Marvelous Manifestations and Tracing the Renowned Mountains entered interactive installation, holographic theatre, glasses-free 3D and mixed-reality space.
- 2025Core work establishedEchoes Beneath formed the principal immersive-cinema line and entered museums, festivals and public cultural settings.
- 2026An integrated system emergedWorks, exhibitions, Station, research and publishing began to connect as a public-facing ecosystem.
XUNKU undertakes digital preservation, appropriate restoration and artistic transformation. It does not replace conservation of physical heritage, and artistic speculation is not presented as historical fact.
CONTENT & WORLD
Content and a Universe of Works
The works are where the project’s methods take form.
IN PRODUCTIONXUNKU · Di Renjie: Mirage and Blazing Psyche
《寻窟·狄仁杰幻面焚心》
WORK SERIESTracing the Renowned Mountains
《名山寻踪》
XUNKU · Evolution of Marvelous Manifestations
《妙相化衍》
HOLOGRAPHIC THEATRESacred Images of the Mountains
SACRED IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS
2024Eight Phases of the Buddha’s Life
EIGHT PHASES OF THE BUDDHA’S LIFE
INDEPENDENT IMMERSIVE IMAGE SPACE · 2022Qingzhou Ancient City Time Tunnel
QINGZHOU ANCIENT CITY TIME TUNNEL
METHOD & SYSTEM
Not a single work, but an evolving system.
- 01Research and Fieldwork
- 02Digital Capture and Preservation
- 03Restoration and Cultural Computing
- 04Narrative and Spatial Production
- 05Public Communication and Archiving
PUBLIC EXITS
Five Public Expressions
One body of civilizational assets entering reality through different media.01
XUNKU CinemaPanoramic Immersive Cinema
Entering grotto narratives through panoramic image and spatial sound.
02Game & InteractiveParticipatory Experience
Transforming exploration, research and narrative into participation.
03XUNKU ExhibitionArt Exhibitions
Works, research archives and spatial interaction reconfigured as an experience that can be entered and toured.
04XUNKU StationIntegrated Cultural Space
A physical gateway connecting content, exhibitions, public education and local culture.
05XUNKU GoodsObjects and Editions
Bringing grotto imagery, patterns and cultural imagination into useful, shareable contemporary objects.
XUNKU ALREADY HAPPENED
The project has begun, and continues to unfold.
PHYSICAL ENTRANCE
XUNKU Station
XUNKU STATIONFilm, exhibition, research, publishing and public programmes converge in a physical space. XUNKU Station is the project’s primary offline entrance.
Enter XUNKU Station →SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE
Shared Foundations and Public Programmes
Research and publishing support every public expression of XUNKU.Research & Digital Heritage
Field research, digital capture, cultural computing, evidence management and long-term asset stewardship.
Explore research →XUNKU Press
Publishing, archives, public education and open exchange bring research into a wider cultural context.
View public programmes →Contact
For research partnerships, publishing, education and public cultural programmes.
yuzhen@xunku.art →CHRONICLE
Chronicle
HonorsAward→Nominated→Nominated→Selected→
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