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Exhibition
Spider Lily: Closing Reception and Artist Talk

Your last chance to explore the world of Spider Lily, a cinematic adventure game set in the afterlife created by Cultural Incubator residents falsework studio.

Closing Reception and Artist Talk: Spider Lily

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Doors: 6:00PM

Artist Talk: 6:30PM

All Ages

Free for Members

Standing Reception

Happy Hour Bar

View our FAQ page for more info, or contact us at [email protected] with any accommodation requests.

About the Event

Join us on the evening of January 10th as we welcome falsework studio (Yuehao Jiang + Matthew J.X. Doyle), whose interactive game work Spider Lily is currently on view in the Gray Area Gallery. Supported by Gray Area's Cultural Incubator program, Spider Lily treats guidance as its central mechanic. Rather than controlling a hero, players escort a fragile other through a system that exceeds comprehension. The play here is in service of an emotional ecology where loss, trust, judgment, and transformation become mechanical as well as spiritual processes, asking how games might offer new mythologies for the relationship between the living and the dead.

During the closing reception, falsework will give a short overview of their work and production process, followed by a guided play-through of the game and a Q&A with the audience. Additionally, all attendees will be entered into a free raffle for a limited edition Perforce Software x Spider Lily t-shirt!

About Spider Lily

Spider Lily is a cinematic adventure game set in the afterlife.

The Lost Soul is a twelve-year-old girl who awakens on the desolate shores of purgatory with no memory of her past life. When she rescues a golden fish whose eyes have been taken by ravens, she forms a soul bond with this helpless creature.

These unlikely companions embark on a journey together to escape death. Their relationship takes them through the vast, mysterious landscape of what lies beyond life: attachment, dependence, and letting go.

About the Artists

falsework (Matthew Doyle + Yuehao Jiang)

falsework builds temporary structures for play, thought, and disruption. We work with artists who unsettle cultural feedback loops, moving across media to make space for new ways of sensing and telling.

Matthew J.X. Doyle is the founder of falsework studio, a new, artist-IP driven entertainment studio based in Los Angeles. falsework's mission is putting bold artists first, incubating and adapting original work across media formats for a global audience. Prior to founding falsework, Matthew built his career as an independent producer of new media projects. In this role, he collaborated with artists to realize ambitious works in mixed reality theater, simulation, VR, video, and digital games. Passionate about adapting narratives into emerging media forms, the projects he produced for artists zzyw, Theo Triantafyllidis, and Dynasty Handbag have been presented by leading institutions including Sundance New Frontiers (2020, 2021), Hyundai’s Art Lab, the Onassis Foundation, Ars Electronica, and the BFI London Film Festival.

Yuehao Jiang is an interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles exploring the surreal intersections between digital bodies and landscapes. Working with 3D animation, sculpture and painting, Jiang constructs immersive environments that blur the boundaries between the physical and the virtual. Spider Lily is her first game, based on a series of wax pastel drawings that became a story, a series of sculptures, and a 3D world. Jiang holds a MFA in Design Media Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has held teaching appointments at UCLA Design Media Arts and Parsons School of Design. She is a co-founder of falsework studio.

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