Weidi Zhang is an LA-based new media artist/researcher/designer. Her current research and media art practices investigate the image data-based multimedia assemblage in the context of experimental data visualization, Interactive Intelligence system design, and immersive media. Her works are featured at different international venues, such as the SIGGRAPH, ISEA, Times Art Museum, IEEE VIS Art Program, SIGGRAPH ASIA, SwissNex Gallery, and others. Her artwork wins the 'Best in Show' Award in SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2021, Juried Selected in Japan Media Art Festival 2020, and honorable mentioned and shortlisted in Lumen Prize (2020, 2021). Her immersive audiovisual is selected and screened in the international Fulldome Festivals including METAXIS – Planetarium 1 (Saint Petersburg / Russia), Fulldome-Festival Jena – Zeiss-Planetarium (Jena/Germany), the Melbourne Planetarium – Victoria Museum (Melbourne/Australia), and others. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Media Arts and Technology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a lecturer at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) in The Ohio State University, and a graduate researcher in Experimental Visualization Lab. She holds her MFA degree in Art + Technology at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and BFA degree in Photo/Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. As a visual designer and concept artist, she worked as a visual designer in the award-winning design studios in LA for key art and package design and she was selected for WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) blue sky project in 2015.
Weidi Zhang
Ph.D. Candidate (UC Santa Barbara) and Lecturer (Ohio State University)
Weidi Zhang
Ph.D. Candidate (UC Santa Barbara) and Lecturer (Ohio State University)
Weidi Zhang is an LA-based new media artist/researcher/designer. Her current research and media art practices investigate the image data-based multimedia assemblage in the context of experimental data visualization, Interactive Intelligence system design, and immersive media. Her works are featured at different international venues, such as the SIGGRAPH, ISEA, Times Art Museum, IEEE VIS Art Program, SIGGRAPH ASIA, SwissNex Gallery, and others. Her artwork wins the 'Best in Show' Award in SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2021, Juried Selected in Japan Media Art Festival 2020, and honorable mentioned and shortlisted in Lumen Prize (2020, 2021). Her immersive audiovisual is selected and screened in the international Fulldome Festivals including METAXIS – Planetarium 1 (Saint Petersburg / Russia), Fulldome-Festival Jena – Zeiss-Planetarium (Jena/Germany), the Melbourne Planetarium – Victoria Museum (Melbourne/Australia), and others. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Media Arts and Technology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a lecturer at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) in The Ohio State University, and a graduate researcher in Experimental Visualization Lab. She holds her MFA degree in Art + Technology at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and BFA degree in Photo/Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. As a visual designer and concept artist, she worked as a visual designer in the award-winning design studios in LA for key art and package design and she was selected for WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) blue sky project in 2015.
Lecture
A New Assemblage: Image-Data-Based Interactive Visualization of a Human-Machine Reality
Weidi’s lecture was a highly inspiring one for students who have never done virtual reality or mixed reality projects. Weidi introduced various VR projects with background, research, and storytelling. One of her projects, “Cangjie’s Poetry,” is an intelligent multimodal system designed as a conceptual response to the future semantic human-machine reality. Weidi’s team trained a neural network to learn the constructions and principles of over 9000 Chinese characters. After successfully training, Cangjie can interpret images through the lens of Chinese characters and produce new symbols constructed by Chinese strokes. Weidi shared various interesting stories, insights, and knowledge about mixed reality, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and speculative assemblage, which is at the intersection of immersive media design, experimental data visualization, and interactive AI art as the artist defined.
Workshop
Visualizing a Bauhaus Style Composition in Virtual Reality
Weidi Zhang gave 3 hours workshop about creating Bauhaus Style Composition in Virtual Reality (VR) by using Unity software. This workshop was for students who have never done any VR design before. Students first understood what VR is and learned the basic functionalities and interface of the Unity software. Students created various 3D models based on Weidi’s demos and examples. The outcomes are surreal worlds and stunning images in VR!
