Robert Boyd's 'Xanadu' at Variety Arts Theater, Los Angeles

At the Variety Arts Theater in Los Angeles, Robert Boyd's 4-channel video installation 'Xanadu' is featured in the Julia Stoschek Foundation's exhibition 'What a Wonderful World' (2026). This work compiles extensive archival footage of doomsday cults, political leaders, and global fundamentalist movements, edited into fast-paced sequences reminiscent of MTV music videos. Set against a disco backdrop, complete with disco music, it explores themes of apocalyptic ideology and contemporary socio-political issues. By utilizing disco—a genre that flourished in the late 1970s and arose from Black, Latin, and LGBTQ+ communities—it challenges the traditional punk versus disco narrative, indicating that today's mass destruction is fueled by powerful leaders instead of marginalized punks. The four channels culminate in a finale, with 'Exit Strategy' acting as both prologue and epilogue. 'Xanadu' has been showcased globally at institutions such as ARoS Aarhus Art Museum (2020), Moderna Museet (2016), ZKM Karlsruhe (2014), and Participant Inc., New York (2006).