The conceptual foundation of Faces in Motion stems from a desire to shift the viewer’s relationship with facial expression. In daily life, we instinctively interpret emotions through facial cues—inferring happiness from a smile, confusion from a furrowed brow. My project asks: what if we paused this interpretation and simply observed? What if we viewed the human face not as a source of meaning but as a surface of change?
To explore this, I designed Faces in Motion as an interactive collage that reconstructs the human face from fragments of other faces and bodies. This reconstruction is not static. Instead, it responds to real-time data from a viewer’s facial gestures—nodding, turning, moving—as well as more subtle movements.
p5.js
ml5.js
Face tracking
Interactive collage
Exhibited at the 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season and 2025 Future Theatre Season.
2025 · Nature of Code
Dynamically Framed
For my midterm project in Nature of Code, I decided to create a generative visualization that combines algorithmic animation with simple physics. My inspiration came from my experiences in art museums, where I was struck by the contrast between the dynamic movements of people and the stillness of the artworks on display. This tension between motion and stillness, between the ephemeral and the permanent, sparked my curiosity.
The core idea was to use the brightness of an image to dictate the size of particles, thereby reconstructing the image as a dynamic field of points. I integrated subtle vibrational effects, wave motions triggered by user interaction, and even generated butterfly particles to inject an element of fleeting, whimsical movement into the scene.
p5.js
Tweakpane
Particle systems
Generative art
2024 · Kinetic Light
Endless Dancers
The inspiration for my project originates from stage performances I have previously watched. Music, opera, and dancing are art forms that I deeply appreciate. I aim to emulate, through a series of dancers assuming various bodily postures, their journey from exhaustion and dismay to gradually rising again to perform under the spotlight, and to return to a phase of rest after the performance.
Part of my inspiration also draws from lunar phases. By arranging these dancers’ diverse postures around a circular disc, I seek to convey the notion that human experiences mirror the phases of the moon, exhibiting waxing and waning, just as the lunar cycles do.
Arduino
LED lighting
Laser cutting
Kinetic sculpture
2024 · Kinetic Light
Dangling
My inspiration for this project was that I wanted to create an installation which goes beyond a still sculpture and involves the interaction and participation of the audience. Therefore, I came up with the idea of hanging some light objects from the ceiling and inviting people to walk through them. This notion further inspired me that I could use this installation to symbolize the different obstacles that we would encounter in our lives.
After talking to my professor, I decided not to make the shapes too concrete to represent the meanings I impose on them. Instead, I would like to use the changes in color and brightness to invoke the audiences’ own interpretation of my light installation.
Arduino
Light installation
Physical fabrication
Spatial interaction
2023 · Interaction Lab
My Personal Map of Shanghai
As this project consists of both the physical ball game and the digital video clips which represent important moments in my life, I think it’s a novel way to combine what we may use every day (like a toy) and the documentation of our lives together. By creating a personal map of Shanghai, I am also creating a digital album for myself which I can always look back to and cherish my childhood spent in this beautiful city.
My definition of interaction was like a “conversation” between the users and the project. Every time the user does something to the project, the project should do something to respond. Every time the magnetic ball touches a magnetic sensor, the computer will automatically play a video that was recorded in the exact same place that is shown on the map.
Arduino
Processing
Laser cutting
Physical computing
2026 · Through the Lens: Modalities of AR
An Ocean Around Me
This body lens experience is built around an ocean theme, aiming to simulate the sensation of being submerged in water. The visual concept draws on the interplay between light, shadow, and color to evoke the feeling of standing beneath a rippling water surface, with a cute seal and whale (two of my favorite emojis) appearing to swim alongside the user.
As the user moves their hands, the two marine creatures follow in real time, creating a playful interaction where the user appears to be guiding sea animals through the water. I also added chilling background music to the lens.
Lens Studio
Augmented reality
Body tracking
Interactive media
2025 · Nature of Code
Fried Chicken
For this autonomous agents simulation project, I set out to create an evolution system in which emoji creatures progress from eggs to fully grown chickens and, under certain conditions, meet their end as food. The creatures are attracted to the mouse cursor when it is represented as a heart, and repelled when it changes to fire. This playful sequence was designed to explore autonomous behaviors such as seeking, fleeing, and interaction-based transformation.
One major takeaway from this project was the importance of interaction pacing. Initially, creatures evolved so quickly on contact that it undermined the playful clarity of the transformation process. Slowing down movement and adding transition gating made the progression easier to perceive and appreciate.
p5.js
Tweakpane
Autonomous agents
Creative coding
2025 · Nature of Code
Flower Heartbeat
I intended to create an environment that is created by particles, and is influenced by the mouse position. In order to add another vivid vibe to the project, I decided to add vibrating white waves in the background of the particles. The result came out to be like the heartbeats of spring flowers, so that became the name of the project!
I started with a basic particle system where particles moved toward the cursor. Gradually, I implemented more physics-based forces, refined the visual effects, and optimized performance. Through multiple iterations, I adjusted behaviors and introduced aesthetic elements, such as background waves and soft glowing particles.
p5.js
Particle systems
Physics simulation
Generative art
2024 · Communications Lab
Reverse Storyboard — Amélie
This assignment required us to create 18 frames of storyboard for an existing video. Our teacher told us that we should assume that the director has never known anything about the content of this video and that our storyboard is his or her only point of reference. I chose a clip from the movie Amélie since it is my favorite movie and I love how its scenes are shot in special ways.
I first finished all the drawing parts of this assignment, and then I went to my teacher to ask him whether there were more improvements that I could make. After this conversation, I revised my storyboard and finally finished a complete version of this reverse storyboard assignment. I like this assignment very much because I have always had a deep affection for drawing and watching films, and this assignment provides me with a good chance to do two of them at the same time!
Storyboarding
Drawing
Film analysis
Visual storytelling
2024 · Communications Lab
On the Way to a Piano Class
The purpose of this project is to record various kinds of sounds and put them together into a short sound clip that can trigger a certain piece of memory whenever I listen to it. As soon as I got to know the requirements of this project, I decided to pick my memory of going to a piano class when I was still a kid.
I spent a lot of effort recording the actual sounds that I heard on my way to the class, such as the sound of traffic, the voices of pedestrians, the piano songs circling around in the air, the sound of a girl singing, the sound of wind weaving through the leaves, and so on. The general idea when I was doing this project was to convey to the audience that this piece of my memory means a lot to me and I really miss the days when my mother and I were walking down the avenue lined with planted phoenix trees on both sides.
Adobe Audition
Field recording
Sound design
Personal narrative
2024 · Communications Lab
Colorful Childhood Brushstrokes
The concept I want to convey by the communication between these two images is the relationship between my current pursuit in IMA and my previous learning experiences in painting and photography. I picked the painting tools I used when I was a kid as well as the youth palace where I used to learn painting as the target objects in this assignment, and I used different drawing techniques as substitutes for different parts in the first picture.
Painting meant a lot to me. I had learned painting when I was a little kid, but I had to give it up in my eighth grade due to the pressure from school. Nevertheless, it is my greatest luck to come to NYUSH and pursue an IMA major, where I can start to create something artistic of my own again. By using this as my content, I am recalling my memories of childhood and relating my previous experiences of drawing with the major that I am pursuing and I love.
Photography
Adobe Photoshop
Painting
Photo collage
2024 · Communications Lab
Comptine d’un autre été, l’après-midi
When listening carefully to the gentle flow of the piano, I started to draw some piano keys as well as some curves on my screen, and the initial version of this project was made. Later on, the idea that the peaceful and loving melody represents the shape of a heart jumped into my mind, and I made some revisions to my draft to include a figure of a heart in the middle of the whole image.
I made changes to the piano keys every time I wanted to use that element again, and I also applied that to the stroke and length of the parallel lines in the background as well as the curves in the middle of the picture. I used the principle of proximity as well, and composed a curve-like shape near the bottom part of the design with some small rectangles that are close to each other.
Adobe Illustrator
Graphic design
Gestalt principles
Sound visualization
2023 · Interaction Lab
Magic Stairs
Magic Stairs is a project made by my partner Sara Siniecka and me, instructed by our professor Gottfried Haider. I got my inspiration from the movie Harry Potter, and in one of its most famous scenes Harry, Ron and Hermione are waiting for the floating stairs. It suddenly struck me that I could design a game which consisted of several moving stairs and the player could control the stairs to let the small ball reach the destination.
We wanted to make the rules simple, and let the users fully experience the pure fun of playing with and only with their control of the stairs. In my opinion, “interaction” is like a conversation between the humans and the project where each of them can have the opportunity to display their “ideas” and react to each other.
