Li Ruixuan (Rui): How did you enter the field of digital art? What connection do you three see between your respective practices and digital curation?

Yang Jing (Yang): My journey into the field of digital art was somewhat coincidental. Previously, my main focus was on writing and research. However, while studying abroad in Germany, I had the opportunity to interview several individuals during the documenta¹ in 2017, including Li Zhenhua. During our conversation, he inquired about my interest in creating game-related content for the 4th Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale. Intrigued by the idea, I wrote a proposal and subsequently organized an exhibition in Shenzhen. The exhibition primarily featured various forms of games, such as video games, commercial games, indie games, and even games created by artists like Artist Y and Jooyoung Oh. These artistic games extended beyond the traditional boundaries of what is typically considered a game. Additionally, we incorporated interactive elements where the audience was encouraged to participate and contribute to the content creation process.

My digital curation practice can be categorized into two main types. The first type involves curating exhibitions centered around video games. Given the nature of digital media, these exhibitions emphasize experiential engagement rather than solely visual observation. Depending on the exhibition format, artists have the freedom to modify their displays. In design-focused exhibitions, artworks may comprise audio and graphic archives. On the other hand, exhibitions focused on physical pieces may require the use and testing of electronic devices. Some designers and artists even develop exclusive game versions specifically for the exhibition. If the necessary curatorial toolkits and resources are available, the audience can also engage with these games online.

The second type of digital curation I engage in involves breaking away from traditional museum or gallery settings. An example of this approach is Gtopia: Game Site,² which was initially created within an art museum. However, we viewed the museum merely as a physical location for gathering and presenting information. The exhibition's content was the main focus, and it didn't necessarily have to be confined to an art museum environment.

Artist Y (Y): My involvement in the digital art world began in 2021 when my works were first exhibited to the public. Two notable examples are my AI-driven game, "One Thousand and One Nights," showcased at the Asia Digital Art Exhibition,³ and the chatbot called “Bot W.” These works demonstrate my reliable method of producing art and actively participating in this domain.

Fundamentally, my works are dialogue systems, although they may be packaged as games. In "One Thousand and One Nights," the story unfolds through dialogues between the monarch and the protagonist, while “Bot W” is an interactive novel that engages with the reader. As part of my doctoral project, I explore the possibilities of using dialogue systems to extend AI narratives. My aim is to develop an AI-driven dialogue system that seamlessly integrates virtual individuals or events with the real world.

Zhou Jiangshan (Zhou): My journey in the digital art field began during my time studying in the UK from 2010 to 2013. For my master's thesis at Central Saint Martins, I focused primarily on data art and visualization as a means of engagement and communication. Through a series of participatory projects, I realized that in order to advance my studies significantly, I needed to delve into algorithms, programming, and technology culture. This led me to pursue a degree in Computational Arts at Goldsmiths, where we explored the fusion of technology and contemporary art, transforming symbols into tangible and immediate forms. During this time, I also started contributing to exhibitions.

Between 2009 and 2012, the application of digital technology in the UK led to the extensive collection and analysis of information data. This phenomenon brought about new power dynamics and profit-making techniques, while simultaneously highlighting issues concerning internet identity and information flow infrastructure. Academics have raised questions about whether the data gathered from the public should be returned to them, along with the profits generated. Additionally, I provide an overview of data power and privacy. In the UK, I conducted interviews with a dozen designers and artists to gain insights into how they engage the public with their data-driven initiatives. Subsequently, I transformed this project into an exhibition and created several works that followed the thematic logic of data exploration.

I have always been intrigued by finding ways to directly share my ideas with a broader audience, rather than confining them to art galleries and museums. I believe there is often a lack of contact and direct communication between my work and the public. Inspired by the public's everyday use of online communication, I have developed tools and participatory projects to bridge this gap.

Around 2016, I began to strongly sense that digital content would evolve into an independent underlying asset, detached from traditional physical objects. As people spend more time online, engage in frequent interactions, and generate vast amounts of content across various digital platforms, the connection between the internet and the real world seems to be fading. When digital native content, such as user interfaces and barrages not attainable in the physical realm, becomes rich and abundant, I believe it will have its own opportunities for display, circulation, and consumption. This belief led me to establish SCREENROOM in 2017 as a platform to explore this potential. On SCREENROOM, creators of all kinds, including artists, can showcase and sell their digital works, build communities, and present their creations. In this way, digital content emerges at the intersection between the public and the arts. It's worth noting that although the NFT protocol had not yet been developed at the time, I believed that the value of digital content primarily derived from its distribution and the ease of reproducing it at a low cost. I also recognized that this value stemmed from the relationship between the creator and the consumer.

Art Moments (2019), SCREENROOM. Image by Zhou Jiangshan.

Guangzhou Outdoor Arts Festival. Photograph by Zhou Jiangshan.

 

The international digital art and NFT initiatives we witness today may have originated from Western networks and technology culture. However, it's important to recognize that the digital environment in China has its own distinct characteristics, shaped by its unique network structure and image management and circulation practices. As Chinese culture continues to develop, these images will generate value, and their influence will expand.

It is evident that social media platforms employ artificial intelligence algorithms to deliver images to users, essentially curating content or creating curated experiences. This raises the question: Can this form of content delivery be considered a type of curation? When we engage in online projects and utilize these tools, do they possess curatorial qualities? Moreover, when we organize physical exhibitions that reference these digital tools or translate the inspirations we find online into offline experiences, are we undergoing a conceptual shift?

The inaugural project by SCREENROOM aimed to explore the cultural and artistic significance of social media data content, and its interpretation and utilization. However, incorporating digital content like short videos into live exhibitions and art collection systems can present challenges due to its reproducibility and timely nature. Consequently, video installations emerged as a means to provide contextualization for offline viewing, while the content itself remained entirely digital.

One notable undertaking by SCREENROOM in 2017 was the "Sharing Exhibition: Time Dividuals." This project involved showcasing short films created by performers within a box equipped with a screen. To facilitate the exhibition, an "exhibition logistics" system was implemented, wherein boxes and screens were couriered to volunteer participants. These participants followed prescribed procedures to "install" the boxes in shared spaces. They then activated the screens to initiate the exhibition's "opening" and captured photographs, subsequently sharing them on WeChat Moments for "media exposure." Through this framework, a connection between the viewer and the author was established, underscoring the understanding that these online videos are indeed works of art. This approach not only facilitated a deeper engagement between the audience and the content but also fostered a broader appreciation for the artistic value of online videos.

Rui: Could you discuss the inspiration behind your respective practices? Have publications, theories, events, or exhibitions influenced your projects and works? What has had the greatest impact on you?

Y: I developed a fascination for text and dialogue during my younger years, greatly enjoying playing "Gal Games".⁴ As I progressed through college, I began to envision the potential of AI in generating autonomous conversations and expanding character interactions. Recognizing the limited exploration in this area, I turned to game design as a means to independently cultivate human-machine interactive relationships of this kind.

One of my own works has had a profound influence on me. During my junior year, I created a straightforward chatbot that operated based on rule matching. This particular bot was designed around the persona of the poet Li Bai, who occasionally indulges in alcohol. As he becomes intoxicated, he recites his poems before eventually becoming "disconnected" from the conversation. Surprisingly, many people continued to engage with Li Bai even after he had disconnected, demonstrating a strong emotional attachment to the bot. This experience led me to believe that AI dialogue technologies should be explored in a more playful and empathetic manner. However, I soon discovered the challenges associated with such projects. The delicate balance between maintaining coherent dialogue and avoiding nonsensical responses proved to be a significant hurdle. It became clear why so few people ventured into this territory—authorship and control were heavily impacted. Nevertheless, the ongoing debates and research surrounding AI dialogue mechanisms continue to inspire me. They reaffirm that there is still much work to be done in this field, and I am eager to contribute to its development.

Yang: I can think of two things that inspired me: the game "Pharaoh" and a public activity created with Patrick Lemieux's alternate controller "Octopad."

The early Nintendo red and white machine's eight buttons are divided into eight independent handles in the game "Octopad." I initially learned about this work after a conference on video game research. On Patrick and Stephanie Boluk's panel, seven or eight of us who were strangers enjoyed the conversation, so we later played this handle game together. Patrick and Stephanie explained what alt. ctrl is during the play and shared their own experiences with the game. I was very affected by this event. The majority of the art exhibitions I visited at the time were in Europe. I would have learned less if I hadn't been invited or attended the opening. Playing the games in a real social setting or with the developers present is challenging. By playing "Octopad," you are matched with strangers to complete an activity. This mechanism stimulates relationships without your knowledge. Because I've previously worked as a reporter and editor, I've always been concerned that the material would be spread to very few people or that the recipients would not be able to understand it or show interest. Yet "Octopad" appears to address these issues effectively.

The city-building video game "Pharaoh" has also impacted my curatorial method. As a result of consulting with experts in ancient Egyptology, the game's props and socioeconomic systems have been faithfully restored to 60 to 70 percent of the original state. The game subtly educates players about history. This type of game design that incorporates cultural material has had a significant impact on me.

Later, when I visited the ancient Egyptian antiquities exhibition in Turin, I saw a striking resemblance between the game's scenes and the artifacts on display that were based on ancient Egyptian villages. That inspired me to think that games are comparable to art galleries and museums. They are all gathering data; however, museums only gather cultural artifacts in the form of objects. Also, because both the models and the objects it depicts have their own metadata, the process of registering the qualities of cultural artifacts in the museum system is comparable to the process of creating game models.

Second, whether for an independent curator or an art museum, curating fundamentally involves moving items from one location to another and then giving them a credible narrative context. In actuality, all of these items are imitations, giving the impression that the museum's recreation of an ancient Egyptian hamlet is made up of a patchwork of artifacts from various places during that time. The same is true in game development. Using visual, sequential, and spatial processing, you assemble the models you made and the resources you bought to create a virtual setting that seems authentic. When I was working on "Forgetter," I incorporated some of my own experience after placing the museum's exhibits and information into the virtual environment.

Zhou: I see myself as a believer in "the medium is the message" by Marshall McLuhan. Particularly in the modern digital landscape, where the structure of online information circulation shapes our content, the medium we use significantly influences our communication and expression. This observation highlights the inherent constraints imposed by the medium on language and messaging. Furthermore, it reflects the notion that by giving everyday objects an artistic framework, we can engage in cultural discourse from an artistic perspective and gain fresh insights into their significance.

Some of my earlier artworks were created using existing data or through participatory approaches that transformed the data collection process into an engaging experience. During my residency at V2_Lab for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, I had the opportunity to explore the concept of developing a dialogue system that could generate content in my everyday life. This led me to create the project Place-Talk.⁵ It involved a mobile robot box placed in a public space, which visitors could move and pass to one another. On the project's website, online users could input information that would be displayed on the box's screen. The audio from the physical location and its surroundings would be simultaneously broadcasted on the internet, allowing online audiences to experience the environment. This box, acting as the eyes of the online audience, traveled across the globe, initiating conversations and inviting participation from various individuals.

Through this project, I realized that my role shifted from being a content creator to someone who conceived the mechanism for interaction. This experience had a profound impact on me. Since then, I have focused on developing prototype mechanisms and exploring their usability. I also strive to design settings that encourage a diverse range of people to share their stories through digital media, fostering a broader spectrum of participation.

Rui: Education about digital art in art schools, media art organizations, and media art biennials and art festivals — these are the fundamental components of a digital art ecology. How do you see your position in this ecology, both personally and professionally?

Yang: In my opinion, I find my relationship with ecology unsatisfying. I consider myself somewhat of an outsider since I haven't attended a fine arts academy and have only participated in one biennale. Art museums express concerns that my exhibitions related to video games lack artistic merit or might not resonate with their audience. However, these concerns seem unnecessary in the current landscape. I strongly believe that no one in this world is disconnected from the realm of video games. On one hand, this massive industry continues to influence our work and daily lives, and on the other hand, various industries are drawing resources from the game industry.

As key players in the digital art ecosystem, art museums have a stake in the art market as they can influence the market value of artworks. With my background in museology and media, I have always been fervently committed to the public aspect of art museums. Whether it is aesthetic education or industry communication, art museums should consider "disenchantment." When an art museum engages with the public, it should emphasize its value as a social institution and then explore how to effectively connect with the public. In my view, the current art museum model falls short in this regard.

The art media is another area that can be improved. The media should take on certain responsibilities to the society in which they live as a system created by social culture and not just act in their own circle. Also, art media operate differently from mass media. First, art media ask for advertising fees from artists and curators, and second, they require you to provide a definition of your identity and your work, which means the absence of the media itself in reporting and writing. An art media once refused to visit and report our exhibition without getting paid a big amount of money by saying “tech exhibitions are not attractive,” which is rather depressing since anything, especially a social organization, will have a strong interest in ensuring its own survival and reproduction as long as it is created, according to the sociological perspective.

Y: In the past, I devoted significant effort to finding answers to questions similar to yours. However, through my participation in exhibitions and pursuing a Ph.D., I realized that I was constantly attempting to fit into predefined molds. While these molds provided a vague sense of belonging, they couldn't truly help me define my identity. I often navigate between the realms of art, academia, and programming, without settling into a specific category. At present, I'm comfortable with not having a fixed position as I continue to explore and transition. If people perceive my creations as games, then they are games; if they perceive them as art, then they are art; and if they find them enjoyable in any way, that is also acceptable. The majority of my works possess a mass appeal. I strongly believe that people should interact with robots in the same manner as they interact with one another, as I study the relationship between this technology and human beings and experiment with different aspects of this relationship.

Essentially, I would describe myself as an AI artist. However, on social media, this term has been used to refer to artists who generate AI-generated images based on written prompts. To differentiate myself from them, I sought another means of defining my practice. If a more precise definition emerges in the future, it may indicate an evolution in my thinking. But for now, I don't struggle with it.

Zhou: In my view, the art system is not a singular entity; it is closely tied to economic relationships. For instance, the gallery system primarily functions as an operating system that cultivates art and promotes the collection of works through activities like art sales. Public institutions, on the other hand, require financial support to sustain their operations. Individuals within the public system, such as artists, often need to take on additional jobs to support their creative endeavors. These systems, therefore, develop their own preferences for narratives and the selection of exhibitions.

Furthermore, digital artists belong to a particularly unique category due to their reliance on public systems. Many digital artists depend on participating in commercial or public projects as a means of generating income. This is because the traditional gallery-based framework, which restricts circulation in object-based forms, has historically posed challenges for them. For a long time, there was little belief that the traditional collection system could adequately support or accept digital art. However, with the advent of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), digital art has found a circulating strategy resembling that of traditional art collections, leading to the emergence of an asset bubble. Moreover, I believe that these public methods of engagement establish a connection between data and the art system, effectively functioning as a survival mode for data in the digital art realm.

Rui: Where are the digital art communities in China? Which audience does each of your projects target? How does the target audience differ from each other across your different projects?

Zhou: At SCREENROOM, we have access to valuable data that provides insights into the digital art scene. We have accumulated over 100,000 works collected by participants, and our audience predominantly consists of individuals under the age of 25. Approximately 10% of our audience has some affiliation with the art circle. This could be attributed to the influence of my work on artist friends, who then introduce more people from their own circles to join SCREENROOM.

However, examining the digital art scene can be challenging, primarily due to the vast amount of digital information available that defies easy identification and description of its artistic quality. It's akin to how the audience may vary when a performance artist on social media is referred to as an Internet celebrity.

Nonetheless, there is a significant contemporary trend and a crucial vision that I have proposed for SCREENROOM, which involves utilizing digital information as the underlying asset of the new generation. Digital material holds a particularly strong association with the post-2000 generation, in contrast to the traditional art audience of previous generations. The traditional art market has traditionally revolved around the relationship between people and specific objects, whereas our connection with digital content has reached an undeniable extent. When the digital generation fully assumes economic power, they will likely choose as their standard the content they can understand and relate to, such as raw digital images and the circulating supply in blockchain technology. While it remains challenging to assert that today's NFTs represent an effective means of distributing art, they do highlight the significant influence that digital content and digital natives have had on our social lives.

Y: I haven't conducted a specific analysis of demographics. When I sent out a questionnaire for “Bot W,” I found that the age range of the audience was similar to my own. Since I first became aware of NFTs in 2021, I have occasionally been contacted by individuals who resell NFT whitelists. From my brief observations, these individuals are generally in their twenties and thirties. They are often art enthusiasts or practitioners who discovered my works through exhibitions or social media. On the other hand, close audience, who are typically in their forties, have accumulated significant experience and assets in their respective industries. They are more interested in understanding how I incorporate technology into my artwork.

 

Bot W. Image by Artist Y.

Yang: In my experience, my audience primarily consists of young and middle-aged individuals. The younger segment typically includes students with a keen interest in gaming or art. Among the middle-aged audience, there is a group interested in cross-industry collaboration, which may include artists or professionals working in marketing or product development for government organizations or private companies. Older individuals who engage with my work tend to be scholars or collectors. While academics have maintained their focus on and research in this field, collectors and museum professionals also recognize the contemporary significance of this trend and actively seek updates on the content I provide.

Rui: From our conversation so far, I noticed that most of your projects have strong social and communication factors. Do you believe community culture is a key foundation or goal of the current digital curatorial practices? And do you think digital curation has its traits as interactive among multiple fields and diverse subjects? — I intended to use the word “cross-disciplinary,” but after hearing everyone's insights, I think this word is a little inappropriate because its premise is that there exists a preset frame that then causes the act of crossing.

Zhou: In my perspective, community serves as a means rather than an end. The objective is to explore whether digital media can contribute to fostering dialogue and developing a narrative environment. I believe that excessive personal narratives can easily push the content to extremes and limit its potential. Therefore, when creating, I strive to decentralize as much as possible and avoid incorporating too many personal voices or overt narrative elements. While the community atmosphere can have a positive impact on driving traffic and engagement, when a work or platform enters the realm of capital competition, it can start resembling a commercial product. However, in terms of my original creative intention, I aim for sufficient decentralization and a broader spectrum of possibilities. I believe this approach is the most straightforward, practical, and genuine way for artists to pose questions.

Yang: The works we are discussing today may indeed rely on engaging the general public on the level of technology or medium, much like how chatbots rely on constant interactions with humans. It is natural to assume that these works require community-related qualities. However, I hold the belief that the concept of community is transient. It is not necessary for participation to always involve a communal quality. In the case of online communities created by artists like Brother Nut around social events, the organic nature arises from active engagement by everyone involved, where they become part of the work and contribute to community initiatives.

 

The online community of Brother Nut’s social event “Zibo Hotpot Fish.”

Additionally, given that digital art is still relatively new within the arts framework, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of community. Digital art possesses an inherent advantage over other mediums as it can transcend physical limitations and leverage technical tools or the Internet to reach a broader audience.

Another argument to consider is that operating and building a community typically requires the dedicated efforts of one or two individuals. Very few art institutions or collectives are equipped to handle this task effectively. During a recent NFT-related event, I had the opportunity to meet David O'Reilly, a prominent video game artist who gained recognition early on. When asked about his insights or suggestions regarding community operations, he expressed exhaustion from the constant communication with a vast number of followers on platforms like Discord. He also mentioned that the expectations from the general public had become a source of pressure and constraint for him. Commercial gaming companies, on the other hand, often invest significantly in community management, whereas art organizations tend to have limited resources allocated to this aspect.

Furthermore, it is important to acknowledge that communities can have a significant population, and it may be challenging to determine the extent of exposure of the work to different individuals. In times of heightened emotions and volatility, creators' creative freedom may become heavily constrained. Even unintentional statements made by creators could potentially trigger geopolitical conflicts, resulting in severe harm to both the creators' physical and emotional well-being, as well as their works. It's worth noting that the community often referred to in this context is limited to the digital community. While going digital offers credibility and additional value, it also introduces new responsibilities to sustain the digital presence, which can be exhausting.

Y: I resonate with that sentiment. When NFTs were very popular last year, an artist's daily activities could strongly influence their work’s price swings. Many NFT artist friends of mine were working really hard to run their own WeChat and Discord platforms. Given that I previously started a bot communication group, I realized that I found this management and communication style intolerable, and it could also affect my mood swings. If I manage a community or have access to loyal followers, their feedback can be really helpful, but in that case, I could occasionally be deceived by the happiness.

A community with stable followers can delude artists if it is improperly operated. You naturally consider everyone's expectations and feedback when creating stuff. So, many NFTs created by artists highlight the unity of their communities, but in my opinion, NFTs may actually visualize this relationship of mutual manipulation.

Zhou: I would like to comment on the community’ temporariness that Yang Jing just mentioned. Since the community is somewhat connected to the entire population, I believe it is time-sensitive. The community will inevitably vanish once the connection is severed and complete, and it will be very difficult to maintain it beyond that point. An example would be the group made by recent grads to sell their used stuff. Everyone in the group would return to their life when the items had been sold. This, in my opinion, is based on the same principle as the community of encryption art.

Rui: In this new domain consists of hundreds of communities in different scales, as you all are active scholars, organizers, and artists who always keep up with the latest trends, how do you see your participation? Artist Y pointed out that the cheerful appearance of this field could delude creators. How do you balance the delusion and your takeaway from the trend applied to your work while exploring the domain?

Y: I find it difficult to respond to this question because I don't feel confident in my current level of understanding. However, I recognize the need to improve my approach to acquiring knowledge. One potential solution I am considering is leveraging tools such as RSS or email subscriptions to stay updated on relevant topics. I have noticed that browsing social media often leads to a distorted perception of reality, which can contribute to feelings of anxiety and a sense of falling behind in terms of information, especially when it comes to subjects like NFT or AI. I acknowledge that I need to adapt my knowledge intake methods, as the human brain cannot keep pace with the rapid advancements in technology and trends that outpace our physical capabilities. The constant bombardment of information through traditional channels has become burdensome and unsatisfying. Breaking through my own information barriers and mitigating the impact of the information gap on me is a significant challenge I am facing.

Zhou: Breaking through the information barrier has become increasingly challenging, particularly with the prevalence of plagiarized content that exploits gaps in knowledge. The emergence of AI plagiarism has only exacerbated this issue. However, I believe that the integration of artificial intelligence into content production has the potential to reshape our understanding of production relationships and available resources. Personally, I have developed an interest in AI artists and prompt writers for visual creation, even though they may be viewed with disdain by insiders in the art world. Additionally, I am actively exploring community projects related to Web3. I recently came across a prediction stating that AI would eventually generate 95% of the slogan-like "expert perspectives" articles that resemble slogans found on the internet. This notion captivates my attention because I believe it is highly probable. I intend to observe the developments in this field and participate in it. My approach will be one of curiosity, as I strive to expand my understanding of this evolving issue.

Yang: I may be approaching this problem from a somewhat self-centered standpoint, mainly for the sake of my own mental well-being. Firstly, concerning the spam mentioned by Artist Y and Jiangshan, as a journalist, I have the ability to perceive the sources of spam from both an industrial and methodological perspective. It is possible that this content is generated to fulfill key performance indicators (KPIs). In fact, there are various technical obstacles associated with many topics, which means the writer must possess independent thinking skills before delving into the industry. Generally, the information produced within this context is not freely available, and since authors must invest time in their research, it may not always be timely, unlike free content designed to maximize click-through rates. Approaching the problem from this angle can help alleviate our anxiety.

My second suggestion is to engage in conversation with someone. Having a discussion with a reliable friend who shares your beliefs can be beneficial for both parties involved. Additionally, interacting with individuals from different perspectives can offer valuable insights on the same topic. Through chatting, you have the opportunity to connect with authentic experiences and real people, as opposed to interacting with brands that are often artificially constructed using a collection of adjectives. These genuine interactions have the potential to inspire us.

In the end, I came to the realization that many seemingly innovative ideas or actions have already been pioneered by those who came before us. By looking back from the present, you could gain a deeper appreciation for the things that have withstood the test of time, those that have been sedimented or filtered by the passage of time. This retrospective perspective can offer a temporary shield from the harshness of reality and provide a sense of mental and emotional security, reducing the negative interference you may experience.

Artist Y is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. She graduated from two world-renowned universities and is furthering her studies at a prestigious art institution. She showcases her work on leading NFT platforms, with chatbots being her primary medium for creation and research. She delves into the practice of conversational artificial intelligence as interactive entities in narrative storytelling. Her works have been displayed in galleries worldwide and at premier academic conferences.

Yang Jing (Allison) loves playing and making games. She works as a curator, designer and writer focusing on humanistic game design and game literacy.  Recently, she worked with dsl collection designing and producing an art destruction game Forgetter, curated an exhibition about game production in China in Tank Art Shanghai, curated Game Atlas seminars and museum night with Goethe-Institut Hong Kong & M+ Museum. She frequently writes and edits articles on game and gaming as the chief editor of the “Game On” column in Initium Media. She is also pursuing her doctorate degree in the School of Creative Media in the City University of Hong Kong and writing on the topic of games as an alternative form as a museum.

Zhou Jiangshan (Cedar) is an artist, founder of SCREENROOM, co-founder of PPPP new media art space. The work of Cedar discusses the relationship between individual and group in a real-time system, creating tools and participating environments for people to express their ideas toward particular topics under different sociological and psychological influences.

In 2022, Cedar co-initiated Austria China Crypto Art Festival; In 2018, he was a jury of NOVA Interactive art award; In 2014, he created the first Chinese contemporary art visualization at its scale, WOW! CCAA at Power Station of Art, Shanghai; In 2013, Cedar curated Information in Style: information visualization in the UK, art and design exhibition at the CAFA Art Museum. His works have been exhibited internationally at venues including Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK, Waterman Art Centre in London, UK, Hong Kong Art Centre, V2 unstable media, LE CUBE, France, Momentum Berlin, Cafa Art Museum.

Cedar has an MA degree from the Central Saint Martin Collage of Art and design, University of Arts London and an MFA from the Goldsmiths Collage, University of London.