Yuhanxiao (Maggie) Ma (CN/US) is a US-based research-driven multimedia artist and PhD student at the University of Washington’s Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS). Working at the intersection of speculative fiction, science, and ethics, she blends critical inquiry with parafictional storytelling. Through 3D fabrication, casting, physical computing, and multimedia installation, she investigates how technological systems shape lived experience and expose the overlooked consequences of innovation.

Grounded in phenomenology and critical theory, Ma both employs and critiques emerging technologies to explore their societal implications. Her work has been exhibited internationally in New York, Barcelona, and Shanghai, and she has held residencies at DOM Art Residency (Barcelona), SVA’s Bio Art Residency (New York), and the Gallatin WetLab program on Governors Island. She will present a two-person exhibition at THE BLANC Gallery in New York in September 2025.

Anna Ren (CN/US) is a US-based multimedia artist working across CG image-making, immersive technologies, and performance to explore memory, identity, and embodied experience. She holds a B.F.A. in Interactive Media Arts from NYU, where she developed a practice rooted in experimental storytelling, embodied interaction, and critical approaches to emerging technologies.

Her work has been exhibited in New York, Denver, and Berlin, including at MANIFEST:IO (Berlin), Digerati Experimental Media Festival, and CultureHub’s Re:Fest. She has also shown in group exhibitions at THE BLANC Gallery and will present a two-person show there in September 2025.

Combining CG animation, interaction, XR, and live performance, Ren creates layered visual worlds reflecting alien identity, longing, and nonlinear memory. Informed by her transnational experience, her work explores how place and self shape one another, blurring boundaries between the real and the virtual.

Talks

• Yuhanxiao Ma & Anna Ren: The Guinea Pig Eligibility Test