Daria Mille(b.1982, Germany) is currently a curator and research associate at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Her research interests focus on topics related to the intersection of new media, art, science, and technology, including from a historical perspective. Another area of interest is the cultural and artistic implications of digitization. Of particular importance to Daria Mille is the investigation of experimental practices that understand art institutions as agents of change in their capacity to question canons, as well as integrate more sustainable work and production methods. She has curated large-scale exhibition projects in Germany and internationally, both in physical and digital space. She gives lectures internationally and has published numerous scientific essays and other writings. Currently she is a member of the advisory committee for the “Women in New Media Art” program by AWARE – Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibition.

Ziyang Wu(b.1990, China) is an artist and curator based in Hangzhou. His video, AR, AI simulation and interactive video installation have been exhibited internationally, including Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Philadelphia, Rhizome at the New Museum, Walker Art Center, PinchukArtCentre, Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Ars Electronica, SXSW, Hek Basel, SIGGRAPH Asia, Mesh Festival, Civa Festival, ifa Berlin, Medici Palace, M+ Museum, Power Station of Art (PSA), K11, UCCA, TANK Shanghai, Long March Space, By Art Matters Museum, Inside-Out Art Museum, Times Art Museum and Hyundai Motor Studio Beijing. His recent fellowships and honors include being shortlisted for the “Future Generation Art Prize”, receiving “The Randall Chair” award at Alfred University, being named one of the “AACYF Top 30 under 30”, and participating in the “MacDowell Fellowship” and “Residency Unlimited”, among others. He is the head of Open Media Department at School of Intermedia Art at China Academy of Art, and a former member of NEW INC at the New Museum.

Curatorial Note

Ziyang Wu, Pasig River 2030 - 6 Plus, 2022, Digital Video, color, sound, 8 min 30 sec.
Commissioned by UCCA Center for Contemporary Art
CG modeling & animation: Chen Yishan, Liao Jiaqi, Li Jiatao, Li Tiran, Wang Xinyue

The video Pasig River 2030 - 6 Plus, set in the Philippines in 2030, is the story of a fictional local Internet service provider and blockchain company, presenting the future of digital life in developing countries from their own perspective. The Pasig River mentioned in the title is an important thread in the filmic narrative. This river, which flows through Metro Manila, was judged to be “ecologically dead” in 2000 due to pollution. However, within the film’s computer-generated (CG) imagery, the river has been restored to life and is jointly administered by the local government and the blockchain company.

Looming in the background, however, are numerous issues, including comprehensive surveillance and digital colonization. Drawing on in-depth research into current “Digital Earth” projects, network infrastructure construction, and blockchain development, Wu Ziyang considers filmic narrative through the lens of American sociologist and design theorist Benjamin Bratton’s 6-tier Stack model, investigating the many factors behind the rapid evolution of the cloud-networked society, including the environment and ecology, society and culture, and geopolitics. The “6 Plus” in the title not only echoes the 6-layer structure of the video, but also lightheartedly reminds people of the various generations of mobile phone models. Through a humorous and absurd visual language, the artist reveals contradictions between digital structures and material realities, backwardness and progress. He also forewarns of the changes and “upgrades” that society will face, reminding us of a potential crisis not far away.

CG modeling & animation: Chen Yishan, Liao Jiaqi, Li Jiatao, Li Tiran, Wang Xinyue

Pasig River 2030 – 6 Plus is part of and based on the collaborative work Future_Forecast with artist Mark Ramos

Rasa Smite(b.1969, Latvia) is an artist and researcher working at the intersections of art, science, and immersive technologies. She holds a PhD, and is co-founder of RIXC Art Science Center in Riga and NAIA (Naturally Artificial Intelligence Art Association) in Karlsruhe. Currently, she leads the SNSF-funded research project “Immersion Studies of Climate Experience” (2025–2028) at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). In her artistic practice, Rasa collaborates with Raitis Smits, artist, PhD, and professor at the Art Academy of Latvia. Together, they have created visionary techno-ecological artworks that interweave sonic, data-visual, and immersive experiences — from early electromagnetic and internet radio explorations such as Acoustic Space Lab to later works like Pond Battery, Swamp Radio, Atmospheric Forest, and Solarceptors. Their works have been exhibited internationally at Ars Electronica, ZKM Karlsruhe, HeK in Basel, Venice Architecture Biennale, and many other venues, and have received numerous awards, including the Prix Ars Electronica and the Falling Walls Art & Science Award.

Curatorial Note

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, with Krista Dintere, Symbiotic Cities: Light Resonances, 2025.
Credits: Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, "Light Resonance" (2025) AR is created in collaboration with Liepaja based Latvian sound artist Krista Dintere.
SensUs Art is AR App by NAIA Karlsruhe and RIXC Riga exploring how immersive XR technologies shape new relations between humans, nature, and technology. http://sensusart.rixc.org

Light Resonances visualizes and sonifies the subtle exchanges between plants and light. Using 3D spectral scanning and data sonification, six plants transform from natural RGB colors, as seen through human eyes, into spectral forms experienced through non-human vision. Their sounds also, changing from field recordings to sonifications shaped by photosynthetic data, reveal each plant’s unique resonance of light. Created in Augmented Reality (AR), the selected plant individuals become part of a future symbiotic city, a speculative environment where biological and digital intelligences intertwine, creating new forms of coexistence between human and non-human About the Symbiotic Cities Symbiotic Cities envisions a speculative ecosystem where natural and digital intelligences intertwine, shaping new forms of coexistence between humans and other life forms. The ongoing expanding network project is co-curated by RIXC and NAIA within the SensUs Art Extended Reality platform.