My research interests generally lie in the intersection of technology and art. I am particularly motivated by the question of how technology serves as a medium through which people communicate, convey, and contemplate their own circumstances.
Recently I particularly focus on the interdisciplinary research of creativity and machine intelligence, against the backdrop of the evolving media landscape in modern art history. See publications for details.

Publications

(All publications are in Chinese unless otherwise noted)

  • Imagery Media and the Historical Generation of Color Theories 图像媒介与颜色理论的历史生成：摄影术、水彩与数字图像. Journal of Beijing Film Academy, Sep 2024.
  • Poetics of Models in AI Image Generation 人工智能影像生成的模型诗学. Filming Art, Sep 2024.
  • Speech Act, Literary Writing, and Programming for Apparatus: Three Modes of Walking in City 言语行为、文学书写与装置编程：城市漫步的三种模式. China Book Review, Aug 2024.
  • Can AI Create? - Creativity Crisis and Collectivity Solution for Paraliterary Text Generation 人工智能会创作吗?——“类文学文本”生成的创造力疑难与集体性方案. Nanjing Social Sciences, Jul 2024.
  • "Alternative" and "Ordinary": Art Spaces in Urban Renewal “另类”与“日常”：城市更新中的艺术空间. Shanghai Culture, Apr 2024.
  • On the Morphogenesis of Computer Art 计算机艺术的形态发生. Monogrgaph. Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, Jan 2024.
  • When is AIGC Art: From Morphological Similarity to Art Condition; AIGC“何时为艺术”：从形态相似性到艺术条件. Chinese Journal of Art Studies, May 2023. [cnki]
  • The Trap of "Algorithm" the Synecdoche 算法提喻的话语陷阱. China Book Review, Jan 2023. [cnki]
  • Towards a Metaphorical "Metaverse": the Realization of Value of Digital Artifacts 走向隐喻的“元宇宙”:数字制品的价值兑现. China Book Review, Dec 2022. [cnki]
  • The Rise of NFT Trading and the Value Basis of Digital Art NFT交易的兴起与数字艺术的价值依据. Shanghai Culture, Aug 2022. [cnki]
  • Technical Analysis Revisited: Sense-Making and Artistic Potential of Computer-Based Images 重审技术分析：计算机图像的意义生成与艺术潜能. Chinese Journal of Art Studies, Jun 2022. [cnki] (人大复印报刊转载)
  • From Textual Experiments to Experimental Texts: Expressive Repetition in 'Artificial Intelligence Literature' 从文本实验到实验文本：“人工智能文学”的表达性重复. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, Sep 2021, 41 (5). [fulltext] (《社会科学文摘》摘编; English version, SASS Studies, Winter 2021, [arXiv])
  • Jiangnan Culture System in Shanghai Countryside Landscape 上海郊野景观中的江南文化系统. Global Cities Research, Sep 2021, No. 5, secondary author. [cnki]
  • Analysis of participation level and influencing factors of online science popularization activities 在线科普活动的参与水平与影响因素分析. Educational Communication and Technology, Jun 2021, No. 3, secondary author. [cnki]
  • Patterns in Cultural Responses to Technical Claims, Illustrated with Controversies about Cybernetics in France and the Soviet Union (1950-1960) 技术主张的文化响应模式——以法、苏报刊中的控制论论争为中心（1950-1960）. Studies in Dialectics of Nature, Apr 2021, 37 (4). [cnki]
  • Yan Fu and the Modernization of Chinese Literature Concept 严复与中国文学观念的现代转型. Fudan Journal (Social Sciences Edition), 2021, 63 (1), secondary author. [cnki] (《社会科学文摘》摘编)
  • Defining Computer Art: Methods, Themes, and the Aesthetic Problematic 計算機藝術的界定：方法、主題與美學問題域 (in English). Culture in China (Canada), Dec 2020, 1 (4). [arXiv]
  • Computer Art as an Aesthetic Problem Domain 作为美学问题域的计算机艺术. Shanghai Culture, Dec 2020, (12). [cnki] (人大复印报刊转载)
  • Who Empowers "Self-Media"? 谁为“自媒体”赋能？. Wen Hui Bao (Shanghai), 27 Dec 2019. [fulltext]
  • On Simondon's Technoesthetics 西蒙栋“技术美学”评析. Studies in Dialectics of Nature, May 2018, 34 (5). [fulltext]
  • Shen Congwen's Writing and Research in the Perspective of History of Folklore: 1926-1949 民俗学史视角下沈从文的创作与研究：1926-1949. Literary and Art Review, Oct 2016, (10). [fulltext]
  • On Shūzō Kuki's Contigency-Based View of Art 论九鬼周造基于偶然性的艺术观. Theory Horizon, Oct 2016, (10). [fulltext]
  • Textual Encoding and Pictorial Presenting of Foreign Cities in Wang Tao's Manyou Suilu 王韬《漫游随录》中域外城市的文本编码和图像表达. Shanghai Culture, Oct 2014, (10). [fulltext]
  • The Origin and Meaning of Technological Imagination in Sci-Fi in Late-Qing Dynasty, Illustrated by the Cases of 'Electricity' and 'Chemistry' 晚清科学小说中技术想象的来源与意义探析 以“电”和“化学”为例. Science & Culture Review (CAS), Aug 2014, 11 (4). [fulltext]

Translations

  • 控制论之脑：另一种未来的草图 (Cybernetic Brain: Sketches for Another Future, Andrew Pickering, translated to Chinese from English; in collaboration with Jingcao Huang). Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, forthcoming 2025 (Work in Progress).
  • 书写有未来吗 (Die Schrift. Hat Schreiben Zukunft?, Vilém Flusser, translated to Chinese from German). Oriental Publishing Center, Aug 2024.
  • miscellaneous articles, books, and software UI texts, with a focus on popular science, translated to Chinese from English.

Conference Presentations (Selected)

  • "CityWalk as Writing and Programming" 作为书写和编程的城市漫步 present at ACCL Biennale Conference 2024, hosted by HKUST and organized by Association for Chinese and Comparative Literature, 24-25 Jun 2024.
  • "Next Station, Night City: Video Games, Technical Imagination, and Urban Life," 下一站，夜之城：电子游戏、技术想象与城市日常 presented at the symposium titled "Digital Media and Urban Civilization", organized by College for Journalism, Fudan University, 26 Dec 2023.
  • "Performance: Towards an Ontology of Art for New Media," 演绎：通向新媒体的艺术本体论 presented at the "New Media, New Discourse: Knowledge System Reconstruction in Literary Theory" conference, organized by the Chinese Association for Literary Theory and the School of Literature, Shanghai University, 19 Aug 2023.
  • "Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Discourse," 日常话语中的人工智能 presented at the Young Scholars Workshop on Poetic Discourse in Everyday Life, School of Humanities, Tongji University, 11 Jun 2023.
  • "Transformation of Technological Discourse and Genealogy Reconstruction in Artificial Intelligence," 人工智能的技术话语转型与谱系学重构 presented at the "Beyond Intelligence? New Horizons for Human Civilization in the Era of ChatGPT Wave" high-end forum, organized by the Institute of Literature, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 19 Feb 2023.
  • Games as Interfaces 游戏作为界面. Presented on "Refusing Re-/Play: Mental Ecology of Gaming," organized by College of Arts & Media of Tongji University, 14 Nov 2021.
  • Utopian Function of Technological Images: An Anthropological Perspective on Experimental Animation Techniques 技术图像的乌托邦功能——实验动画技术的人类学审视. In cooperation with Huang Jingcao, presented on "Art Forum of BFA 2021," organized by Institute of Chinese Film Culture of Beijing Film Academy, 6-7 Nov 2021.
  • Technological Erlebnis and Erfahrung in Paul Virilio's Aesthetic Turn 维利里奥美学转向中的技术体验与技术经验. Panel speaker on "Post-War French Thoughts and Changes in Contemporary Art Theory," organized by Department of Art Philosophy of Fudan University, and Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 5-6 Nov 2021.
  • The Aesthetic Promise of Computer Art 计算机艺术的美学承诺. Keynote speech on "New Art Anthropology: Beyond the West - 2019 High-End Symposium," organized by Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Fudan University, among others, 30 Nov 2019.
  • From Cybernetics to Artificial Intelligence: Situational Inter-embedding in Computer Art 从控制论到人工智能：计算机艺术的情境互嵌. Panel speaker and moderator on "The Current State of Knowledge in the Age of AI: A Symposium in Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of Lyotard's Postmodern Condition," organized by School of Humanities of Tongji University, among others, 6 Nov 2019.

Grants

  • National Social Science Foundation of China (Art Studies), Grant No. 21CA169 "An Anthropological-Aesthetic Investigation on the Historical-Genetic Problem of Computer Art" 计算机艺术历史生成问题的人类学美学研究
  • National Social Science Foundation of China, Later Stage Grants, Grant No. 21FZWB091 "The Morphogenesis of Computer Art" 计算机艺术的形态发生
  • Intra-Institutional Tender Project, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 2020, "A Study on the Social Values of AI Art & Literature" 人工智能文艺的社会价值研究

Media Articles (Selected)

  • “数字城市”更需要地方感 Jiefang Daily
  • 部落聚会与人工智能写诗 The Paper
  • 虚拟城市、网络空间与文学 The Paper
  • “北京东路制造”：从工业物件到城市艺术 The Paper
  • 寻找北京东路的意义 The Paper
  • 从下海庙探寻城市空间的历史 (secondary author) The Paper
  • “活的景观”：滨江空间与日常生活 The Paper

Education

Ph.D. in Aesthetics, Fudan University, 2018.

B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, 2014.

B.Sc. in Computer Science and Technology, Fudan University, 2013.

Contact

zhu at tianhua.me