Yang Wang 汪洋 (b. 1989, Zibo, China) is an artist, writer, researcher, 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. Formally trained as a designer 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. Through zzyw, a collective co-founded with Zhenzhen Qi, Wang challenges dominant technological constructs through software prototyping, interactive systems, philosophical writing, and teaching. He describes his ongoing body of work as Autonomous Practice and Critical Experiments.
Wang’s creative and critical work has been presented at institutions including New Museum affiliate Rhizome (New York), Ars Electronica (Linz), HEK (House of Electronic Arts, Basel), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), the Onassis Foundation, Guangdong Times Museum, National Museum of China, Today Art Museum, Museum MACAN, and HOW Art Museum. He has held residencies and fellowships with the Rhizome × Mozilla Foundation Counterstructural Commons, Eyebeam’s VH AWARD, Pioneer Works, BabyCastles, and NEW INC, the New Museum’s art-and-technology incubator; he was also shortlisted for the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology. He has taught at the China Academy of Art and The Cooper Union and serves as an external reviewer for SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 Art Papers. 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 writing has appeared in Rhizome, LEAP, The Thinker Weekly (信睿周报), Beijing Literature and Art Review (北京文艺评论), and ESP Cultural Magazine, and Artforum(Chinese). His writing has also been included in the Onassis Foundation publication Chimeras: Inventory of Synthetic Cognition.
Wang has developed and taught courses on technology critique, experimental computing, worldbuilding, interactive art, and media art at Cooper Union, China Academy of Art, and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. His pedagogy combines neural network building with phenomenological inquiry, establishing computation as a medium for collaborative creation and critical reflection. He maintains an industry presence to sharpen his critical inquiry into emerging technology — previously as a senior software engineer at Snap Inc., working on creative and engineering challenges in augmented and virtual reality; as a senior creative technologist at Rockwell Group’s LAB; as an interactive designer at Potion; and through freelance technical roles in New York’s creative technology sector. He holds an MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (2014).
Wang previously used the alias 黄瓜 (huáng guā, “cucumber”), a name that originated during his teenage years playing strategy games online in the early 2000s, and now uses his formal name exclusively. Outside institutional and project contexts, he is open to writing and teaching engagements around critical computing, creative technology, and the culture of computation from technical, computer-science-oriented, and philosophical perspectives.
汪洋(1989年生于山东淄博)是一位常驻纽约的艺术家、写作者、研究者与程序员,自2012年起在纽约生活和工作。他的实践横跨欧陆哲学、实验工程、设计与媒体艺术。他本科接受设计训练,职业经历深受软件工程塑造,将计算既作为创作媒介,也作为批判对象——构建模拟环境与铭写系统,考察技术系统如何塑造人类感知、记忆、判断、栖居、言说与行动的条件。他的写作与项目以现象学、批判理论和思辨探究为基础,研究计算现代性——软件、人工智能、媒体与技术基础设施如何重组世界、记忆、判断与主体性。他与漆贞贞共同创立了 zzyw,通过软件原型、交互系统、哲学写作和教学,挑战主导性的技术构造。他将自己持续发展的创作实践称为"自主实践与批判实验"(Autonomous Practice and Critical Experiments)。
汪洋的创作与研究曾呈现于林茨电子艺术节、上海当代艺术博物馆、HEK(巴塞尔电子艺术中心)、奥纳西斯基金会、广东时代美术馆及纽约新美术馆关联机构 Rhizome 等,并曾入选 Rhizome × Mozilla Foundation 的 Counterstructural Commons 驻留项目、Eyebeam VH AWARD 驻留、Pioneer Works 技术驻留、NEW INC,以及流明艺术与科技奖。他曾任教于中国美术学院与库柏联盟,并担任 SIGGRAPH Asia 2026 Art Papers 外部审稿人;曾在美国大学艺术协会(CAA)年会发表报告,其论文已入选将于多伦多举行的 2026 年科学社会研究学会(4S)年会。文章曾发表于 Rhizome、《艺术界 LEAP》,《北京文艺评论》,与 Artforum 中文版。
汪洋曾在 Cooper Union、中国美术学院和广州美术学院开设并教授技术批评、实验计算、世界建构、交互艺术和媒体艺术等课程。他的教学将神经网络构建与现象学探究相结合,确立计算作为协作创造和批判反思的媒介。他保持着业界实践以深化对新兴技术的批判探究——曾任 Snap Inc. 高级软件工程师,从事增强现实与虚拟现实领域的创意与工程挑战;曾任 Rockwell Group LAB 高级创意技术专家;曾任 Potion 交互设计师;并在纽约创意技术领域从事自由技术工作。他持有 NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program 硕士学位(2014)。
汪洋此前使用网名黄瓜(huáng guā),这个名字源于他2000年代初少年时期在线上玩策略游戏的经历,现已专用本名。在机构和项目之外,他欢迎围绕批判计算、创意技术以及从技术、计算机科学和哲学视角探讨计算文化的写作与教学合作。