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𓇢 𓆸

Alice Yuan Zhang 张元

I am a Chinese-American media artist with a professional background in brand strategy and skills across design (graphic, web, and spatial), coding, communications, research, cultural production, writing and teaching.

These days, I am mostly focused on running an interdisciplinary project room called Plot 田 in Chinatown Los Angeles. If you happen to be in town, come by for an upcoming event or reach out to pitch a collaboration!

File Name Description Institution(s) Date
Artwork
/Returns to Dust, Dust Rises Again (复扬尘也) Installation of clay sculptures appearing as fossil negatives of computational parts, resting on a bed of bentonite sand. Forming the backdrop is a large drawing depicting a stratified view of the Earth in fabulist style, inspired by early Chinese surveys of natural phenomena that blur the line between the mythical and analytical. UCLA Conditional Studio / Getty PST 2024
/Reconnecting... Visual narrative on the underbelly of global digital dependencies. arebyte x Chronus Art Center 2023
/Becoming Infrastructure Year-long research research sandbox and public experiments on composting and remaking sociotechnical infrastructure. 0x Salon, Trust, Processing Foundation 2022-2023
/Anatomy of an Intergenerational Router Interactive 3D scan as self-portrait, illustrating the body as a site for socioecological connectivity. Oyoun 2022
/1:1 Protocols for Remote Connection Browser-based card game on ways to connect remotely with a partner, both digital and analog, tangible and speculative. Co-created with Bhavik Singh (Soft Networks). The Digital Review 2022
/Open Garden Durational performance experimenting with the potentiality of our online attention and the labor of digital sovereignty, hosted on the decentralized web. CultureHub, Solar Protocol 2021
/Remembering Our Roots Immersive storytelling experience through augmented reality, featuring three "plant ancestors" of the artists' lineage. Adobe Aero 2021
/Eat Me Immersive meditation experience on digital consumption. New Art City 2021
/Requiem for Lost Plants Web-based and site-specific AR installation featuring native plants in the Los Angeles area, with 3D soundscape by Alex Kaye. NAVEL / 3HD Festival 2020
Cultural Production
/Plot 田 Interdisciplinary project room in Chinatown Los Angeles, with weekly programs on art, design, and contemporary culture offered in experimental formats. 2025
/Virtual Care Lab Series of creative experiments in remote connection, co-organized with Sara Suárez. NAVEL 2020-2021
/Terms That Serve Us Collective definitions (inversion of "Terms of Service") surfacing from a series of public discussions as part of a residency on digital placemaking. Virtual Care Lab / The Bentway x From Later 2021
Writing
/Cyclical Time as Antidote Reflections on natural lifecycles in context of the pursuit for technological progress. Re:Arc Institute 2024
/Spacetime Diaspora Weavings anecdote and theory across diaristic and universal scales, this short essay explores the simultaneous "invention of the shipwreck and the shipwreck". Place Settings, Tiny Tech Zines 2023
/Sea Change Critique of Forkonomy, a project by Tzu Tung Lee and Winnie Soon that proposes a decentralized ownership model for the South China Sea. Outland 2023
/Wild Domesticity Musings on the practice of home-making amidst post-digital topologies of locale and social relationing, referencing Friedenscreich Hundertwasser's "Five Skins" framework. Are.na Annual 2023
Teaching
/Solidarity Infrastructures Curriculum and learning community focused on alternative networked tools & strategies, co-created/taught with Max Fowler. School for Poetic Computation 2023-ongoing
/Taoism and Techne Outdoor group exploration of Taoist perspectives on technology through clay-drinking, parables, and discussion. UCLA Conditional Studio / Getty PST 2024
/Digital Matterealities Learning group on the aesthetics and cultural implications of digital media, culminating in a virtual group show on Mozilla Hubs NAVEL 2020

You can reach me at intrinsicolor[at]gmail.com.

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