CRUX - A Moral Labyrinth

Project description

How can we tell the story of the Shoah to Gen Z, in a way that’s relevant to them and the world today? This is the question that shaped this project. The design challenge our group faced is creating an immersive, interactive installation that makes Gen Z stop, feel, and think. An experience, that does not feel like a history lesson, but one that helps them reflect on past vs present, connect with the subject of the Holocaust on a personal level, and remember.

Thus **CRUX** was born - an interactive installation that puts you inside a physical maze. Following a story, inspired by the Holocaust, you face (moral) dilemmas at each turn. You don’t “win” - you just see where your choices take you.

Context

**In a world growing more divided, how do we hold onto our humanity?**

Today, we’re witnessing rising polarization, the return of dehumanizing language, and the quiet normalization of injustice. Across borders and belief systems, the lines between “us” and “them” are being drawn deeper. History has shown us where this path can lead — when fear replaces empathy, and silence replaces action. Understanding the past isn’t about looking back. It’s about recognizing the patterns we’re repeating right now, and that in a system that divides, you can always end up on either side of injustice.

The way to combat this concerning trend is to remember, reflect and empathise. In order to evoke that in Gen Z, we created CRUX - an installation designed for a Holocaust museum in Eindhoven, namely Het Hornemann Huis.

Their message is “It should not matter who you are”. Our addition to that is “Whether it’s 1942, or 2025, we **must choose how we respond to systems of exclusion.”**

Results

**Main Outcomes:**

• An interactive experience where two players take on interconnected roles (or one player goes through both) — one as a Holocaust victim based on the true story of Szymon Srebrnik, and the other as a modern-day bystander or aggressor. Their separate choices shape a shared narrative, showing how individual actions can deeply affect others.
• A physical maze structure & design, with 4 nodes / points at which participants answer moral dilemmas. This provides 8 possible routes, and 3 outcome exits.
• A companion digital app that navigates the participants through the maze, immerses them in the narrative, presents the (moral) dilemmas, and collects their choices.
• A summary and moral profiling system designed to outline how both sides influenced each other, and what an individual’s choices say about their moral compass.

About the project group

Our project group (named "The Group") consists of semester 6/7 Media Design students with diverse backgrounds / specialties, ranging from UX research and design, to analysis, front-end development, mobile and game design.

Our way of working can be compared to Shrek and Donkey - inseparable, sometimes annoying, but always with a lot of heart and soul. Over the past 4 months, we have put collective effort, labour and love into a project we’re all proud to show off at this semester’s Innovations Insight!