Yang Wang 汪洋 is an artist, writer, and coder based in New York, where he has lived and worked since 2012. His practice operates at the intersection of continental philosophy, experimental engineering, design, and media art. Trained as a designer at the undergraduate level and professionally shaped by software engineering, he uses computation as both a creative medium and a critical subject, building simulated environments and inscriptive systems that examine how technical systems shape the conditions under which human beings perceive, remember, judge, dwell, speak, and act. Drawing on phenomenology, critical theory, and speculative inquiry, his writing and projects investigate computational modernity — how software, AI, media, and technical infrastructures reorganize world, memory, judgment, and subjectivity. With Dr. Zhenzhen Qi he co-founded zzyw in 2014, challenging dominant technological constructs through software prototypes, interactive systems, philosophical writing, and teaching.
Wang’s creative and research work has been presented at institutions and platforms including Ars Electronica (Linz), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), HEK (House of Electronic Arts, Basel), the Onassis Foundation, Guangdong Times Museum, and New Museum affiliate Rhizome (New York). He has been selected for the Counterstructural Commons residency organized by Rhizome and the Mozilla Foundation, Eyebeam’s VH AWARD residency, the Pioneer Works residency, and NEW INC; he was also shortlisted for the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology. He was a finalist artist of the 4th VH AWARD and served as a nominator for its 5th and 6th editions.
Wang has taught as a Visiting Teaching Artist at The Cooper Union and has developed and taught his own courses at the China Academy of Art and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He serves as an external reviewer for SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 Art Papers. With Zhenzhen Qi, he treats workshops and participatory education as part of their shared practice, having led workshops and given talks at Asia Art Archive in America, New York University, the City University of New York, Columbia University, the New York Media Festival, the New Museum, and Power Station of Art. He has presented at the College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference, and his paper has been accepted for the 2026 Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting in Toronto. His critical writing has appeared in Rhizome, LEAP (艺术界), Beijing Literature and Art Review (北京文艺评论), and Artforum.
As a technical researcher, Wang maintains an ongoing industry presence in order to deepen his critical inquiry into emerging technology. He was previously a senior software engineer at Snap Inc., working on digital infrastructure as well as creative development and engineering in augmented and virtual reality; a senior creative technologist at Rockwell Group’s LAB; and an interactive designer at Potion, alongside freelance creative technology work in New York. He holds an MPS from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (2014).