QI Zhenzhen
Assistant Professor of Digital Media & Design
University of Connecticut | zhenzhen.qi@uconn.edu
Biography
Dr. Zhenzhen Qi 漆贞贞 (b. 1983, Ürümqi, China) is an artist, educator, and researcher based in Brooklyn, New York. She is an assistant professor at the Digital Media Design (DMD) program at the University of Connecticut, researching software simulation as a mode of collective re-making and un-looping. Since 2014, she has taught courses on theory and practice of interactive media, web, and game development at Cooper Union, Teachers College at Columbia University, City University of New York (CUNY), and the University of Connecticut, among others. She has been invited to speak at public events including the College Art Association Annual Conference, Electronic Literature Organization, mAI dAI Conference, K11 Kulture Academy, International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York Creative Tech Week, and Museum 2050. She is the recipient of the Creative Technology Fellowship and Macy Research Fellowship at Columbia University, and the Humanities Institute AI Seed Grant at the University of Connecticut.
Qi co-founded zzyw, an artist and research collective which produces software applications, installations, and texts as instruments to critically examine the cultural, political, and educational effects of computation. Her computational art has been curated by leading cultural institutions around the world, including the New Museum/Rhizome (New York), Ars Electronica (Linz), Haus der Elektronischen Künste (Basel), Elektra (Montreal), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), National Museum of China (Beijing), Times Museum (Guangzhou), Today Art Museum (Beijing), Museum MACAN (Jakarta), HOW Art Museum (Shanghai), and Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai), among others. She has held residencies at Eyebeam, Pioneer Works, BabyCastles, NEW INC, the New Museum’s art-and-technology incubator, and the Counterstructural Commons Residency, organized by Rhizome and the Mozilla Foundation, and was a research artist at co-matter’s Networked World program in Berlin. Her writing has appeared in Rhizome, BLINK Magazine, and ESP Cultural Magazine, and has been published in Art School Critique 2.0 (Ragged Sky Press), Chimeras: Inventory of Synthetic Cognition (Onassis Foundation), and Digital Transformation in Design (Independent Academic Publishing). She is the co-founder and director of PowerNap Studio, a New York-based experiential production lab.
She also co-founded the Pluralistic AI Lab, which reimagines AI interfaces and architectures beyond single-person chatbots.
Zhenzhen holds a BS from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master’s degree from New York University, and a doctorate from Columbia University.
Publications & Writing
2026 — The Unglued Library
Part of Machine as Memory as Orientation as Condition (Book Chapter), Counterstructural Commons, Rhizome
Developed through Mountain of Many Voices. The Counterstructural Commons residency was organized by Rhizome and the Mozilla Foundation.
2026 — Beyond the Monolithic Interface: A Research Agenda for Plural Conversational AI (Manuscript (submitted)), Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (submitted July 7, 2026). Authors: Avijit Ghosh; Afifah Kashif; Isabelle Kohout; Zhenzhen Qi
2024 — Networked Worlds (Research Memo), WePresent / co-matter
2024 — Design of Virtual Worlds (Publication), Digital Transformation in Design, transcript Verlag
2022 — LENNA (Publication), Chimeras: Inventory of Synthetic Cognition, Onassis Foundation
2021 — Between Code and Mystery (Essay), ESP Cultural Magazine, (2), 18–25
2021 — Architecting Emergence (Essay), Rhizome
2017 — The Ambition of Digital Interactivity (Magazine Article), BLINK Magazine
2017 — Towards A Critique Culture in New Media Education (Essay), Art School Critique 2.0, Ragged Sky Press
Invited Talks & Conference Presentations
10/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices: Workshop and Lecture, Asia Art Archive in America, New York, NY, US
8/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices: Workshop and Artist Talk, HART HAUS, Hong Kong SAR
6/2025 — The Rights of Revealing, Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
6/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices: Reorient the Relation to Automation, Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, China
2/2025 — Remystification and Demystification: Cultivating a 'free relation' to AI, College Art Association 113th Annual Conference, New York, NY, US
5/2025 — Talk, mAI dAI Conference, Storrs, CT, US Details ↗
7/2025 — Talk, K11 Kulture Academy, Guangzhou, China
2025 — Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Guangzhou, China
2024 — Uncomputable in the Computational World, College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, US
2024 — Curators at Work, International Studio & Curatorial Program(ISCP), Brooklyn, NY, US
2024 — Reorient Virtuality, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University
2020 — Computational Simulation as a Mode of Collaborative Making in Museum Space, Museum 2050 Annual Symposium, He Art Museum, Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, China (virtual presentation) Details ↗
2018 — ThingThingThing Workshop, New York Creative Tech Week, New York, NY, US
Academic Service
2026 — Reader, SIGGRAPH Asia 2026, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2026 — Juror, Harvard XR Conference, Harvard University, Gund Hall
Grants & Awards
2026 — School of Fine Arts Research Grant, University of Connecticut, Research grant ($9,000 USD; April 2026)
Project: Co·Agents: The Filipino Diaspora Pilot – A Multi-Agent System for Cross-Cultural Democratic Deliberation, Storrs, CT, US
2025 — Humanities Institute AI Seed Grant, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, US
2022 — 5th VH Award, Finalist
Project: Other Spring, Seoul, South Korea
2021 — Lumen Prize, Shortlist
Project: LENNA, London, UK
2020 — Brooklyn Arts Fund
Project: Too Art, Too Game, Brooklyn, NY, US
2017 — Creative Technology Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY, US
2017 — Macy Research Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY, US
Selected Exhibitions & Collections
4/2026 — Go To Sea 下海, Zone of Nowhere, traverse, Beijing, China
11/2025 — Other Spring, Bay Area Art and Technology Triennial, City Campus Art Museum, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
10/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices | 众鸣山, Electrified Kids, The 8th Intermedia Art Festival, Tank Shanghai + UFO Terminal, Shanghai, China
9/2025 — Other Spring, 情山智水：裸物与复形——「今天"山水"有用吗？」项目第11期, PARC 杭州, Hangzhou, China
3/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices | 众鸣山, AI, as Seen at the End of Ownership, Times Museum, Guangzhou, China
6/2025 — PayPayPay, Accent Sisters, New York, NY, US
5/2025 — Mountain of Many Voices | 众鸣山, THE BLANC gallery, New York, NY, US
1/2025 — Other Spring, The Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT, US
3/2025 — Other Spring, Permanent Collection, City Campus Art Museum, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
9/2024 — Other Spring, Life After Life (未来生命档案), HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China
9/2024 — Go To Sea 下海, 班味剧场：如何更好地工作 (Nine-to-Five Theater: How to Work Better), ENNOVA Art Museum, Langfang, China
8/2024 — Other Spring, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong SAR
7/2024 — Other Spring, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
7/2024 — Go To Sea 下海, Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) Virtual Conference and Media Festival, Online
6/2024 — Other Spring, HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste), Basel, Switzerland
2/2024 — Other Spring, Museum MACAN (Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara), Jakarta, Indonesia
1/2024 — ThingThingThing, Apparatus Less Experiment 无设备实验, 数知妙悟 & 四川美术学院实验艺术学院, Chongqing, China
1/2024 — Other Spring, Singapore Art Week 2024, Objectifs, Singapore
2/2024 — Min Cuisine, iidrr Gallery, New York, NY, US
2023 — Something Of A Day, Permanent Collection, Power Station of Art 上海当代艺术博物馆, Shanghai, China
10/2023 — Other Spring, The Interface Between Humanity and the Universe 3.0 天人之境 v3.0, China Academy of Art, Shanghai, China
7/2023 — Go To Sea 下海, To Your Eternity 致不灭的你, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
9/2023 — Other Spring, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
5/2023 — Other Spring, Elektra Virtual Museum, Montreal, Canada
5/2023 — Other Spring, HMG, Yongin, South Korea
3/2023 — ThingThingThing, Glitches in Love: A New Formula, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
11/2022 — Out of Sight, Infinity Games: Impossible Improvisation 无限游戏：不可能的即兴, West Bund Art & Design 西岸艺术与设计博览会, Shanghai, China
7/2021 — ThingThingThing, Cyber Garden, Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, China
9/2021 — LENNA, Contingent Systems, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary, Canada
2/2021 — ThingThingThing, World On A Wire, Rhizome of New Museum @ https://worldonawire.net/, Online
6/2021 — Computational Haze, Blue Cables, Power Station of Art 上海当代艺术博物馆, Shanghai, China
3/2021 — Hazy Chatroom, Sternhalma, Chengdu Times Museum, Chengdu, China
2020 — Quarantinediary.ai, Onassis Foundation, Online
11/2019 — LENNA, ThingThingThing, As-Helix, National Museum of China 中国国家博物馆, Beijing, China
11/2018 — ThingThingThing, Bad Code, Power Station of Art 上海当代艺术博物馆, Shanghai, China
6/2018 — ThingThingThing, On Collaboration, Macy Art Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, US
6/2018 — PRISM, .Zip Season 2, 3LD Art & Technology Center, New York, NY, US
3/2018 — LENNA, New Texture, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum, Gimpo, South Korea
3/2018 — The Black Box, Another Internet, Refest 2.0, New York, NY, US
2/2018 — TV Man, UNCOMPRESSED, 3LD Art & Technology Center, New York, NY, US
9/2017 — The Mind Ocean, The Black Box, Selfie, CultureHub, New York, NY, US
9/2017 — Shell, PRISM, Riverside Art Museum 山水美术馆, Beijing, China
5/2016 — The Mind Ocean, Calm Before/After the Storm, BHQFU Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US
6/2016 — LENNA, Chinatown Soup, New York, NY, US
7/2016 — The Introspection Game, FL:EX Gallery, Shanghai, China
5/2015 — The Introspection Game, Laboratory Gallery, Spokane, WA, US
8/2015 — Zero, Governors Island Art Fair, Governors Island, New York, NY, US
Residencies & Professional Memberships
Spring 2026 — Resident, Counterstructural Commons Residency, Rhizome × Mozilla Foundation, New York, NY, US
Spring 2024 — Research Artist, Networked World, co-matter, Berlin, Germany
Fall 2022 — Resident Artist, EYEBEAM, New York, NY, US
Fall 2021 — Artist in Residence, BabyCastles, New York, NY, US
Fall 2020 — Technology Resident, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY, US
2019-2020 — Member, NEW INC, New York, NY, US
Spring 2015 — Resident Artist, Laboratory Residency, Spokane, WA, US
Teaching
Spring 2026 — Assistant Professor, Senior Thesis, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Spring 2026 — Assistant Professor, Design for AI Experience, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi, Dan Pejril
Fall 2026 — Assistant Professor, Fundamentals of Programming, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Spring 2025 — Assistant Professor, Disruptive Technologies, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Fall 2025 — Assistant Professor, Collaborative Narrative with AI, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Spring 2024 — Assistant Professor, MFA Studio Critique, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2023 — Assistant Professor, Emerging Media & More, University of Connecticut - Digital Media Design
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Spring 2023 — Adjunct Professor, Computational Studio: Simulated, School of Art, The Cooper Union
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2020 — Lecturer, New Media New Form, Teachers College, Columbia University
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2019 — Lecturer, Theory and Practice of Interactive Media II, Teachers College, Columbia University
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2018 — Lecturer, Theory and Practice of Interactive Media I, Teachers College, Columbia University
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2017 — Visiting Professor, Interactive Media and Visual Programming, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA)
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi, Yang Wang
2017 — Lecturer, Digital Foundations, Teachers College, Columbia University
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2017 — Lecturer, New Media New Form, Teachers College, Columbia University
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2015 — Adjunct Professor, Programming Interactivity, Baruch College, City University of New York
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2015 — Adjunct Professor, Multimedia Development, City University of New York
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
2014 — Adjunct Professor, Introduction to New Media, City University of New York
Faculty: Zhenzhen Qi
Selected Interviews & Press
2024 — With ZZYW, Cassie Packard, Eyebeam Read online ↗
2023 — Wandering Between the Line of Computable and Uncomputable with zzyw, Cacotopia / MACA Art Center Read online ↗
2023 — Q&A with Dawn Chan and the 5th VH Award Finalists (Part 2), Hyundai Artlab Editorial Read online ↗
2022 — A Conversation with Art and Research Collective zzyw: Is Game-like Algorithm Art the Future?, ArtNet China
2019 — Coverage of zzyw, The Paper CN
2018 — Studio Visit: zzyw (video interview), SinoVision
2016 — The Mind Ocean: Interview with zzyw, Beautiful.Bizarre
2015 — Interview for Yang Wang & Zhenzhen Qi’s Dual Exhibition The Introspection Game, International Shanghai Channel
2015 — Out of Body Experience Immersive Art Installation On Display Downtown, Spokesman Review