Zix Chen

I am a multi-media artist who is interested in immersive art that involves multiple sensory inputs to create compelling experiences. I am currently a student at Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. This is my portfolio.

XuanWu the Creature

A mechanical, sound-engineered creature with a heartbeat, made with Arduino and Teensy components, and metalwork.

    VVCDBO

    Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass and Octobass. This piece, composed in Ableton using MIDI instruments, is installed as a multi-channel audio environment. It explores the qualia of physically being a part of the audience to a string orchestra, with each speaker representing an instrumentalist.

      Hanging Gardens Sound Environment

      A virtual reality experience of a dominant sound environment with little to no visual input, which seeks to invoke the hanging gardens of ancient Babylon. The behavior of the sound composition is random and each listening experience is infinitely unique.

        Magenta Dream

        This sound composition seeks to capture the grandeur of dreams that involve large physical dimensions, their monumentality, qualia, as well as mystery.

          Eve the Rat

          A fuzzy French-speaking animatronic friend.

            Immersive Window To A Dream V2

            A sculptural projection that mimics a window by detecting the viewer position and showing the correct perspective

              Immersive Window To A Dream V3

              This iteration has a vertically oriented walkway in relation to the "window." In addition, it features a sound environment, creating a holistic experience. This was installed in the dark room of the Des Lee gallery in downtown St. Louis as a part of the show "Parallel Play (2025)."

                View One

                "Virtual photography" of a landscape, made with Unity. Several iterations of post-processing were made to further study the captured image and the what it invoked for me.

                  A Smellable Virtual Wonderland

                  A virtual reality adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, the iconic 19th century novel, with inspirations taken from the 2010 movie adaptation, this project seeks to incorporate olfactory senses into virtual reality through software as well as hardware. This was presented as a research project at WashU.

                    Ice Percussion

                    An experimental sound composition entirely comprised of sounds sourced from ice and titanium; an exploration of certain qualities of the sound and the nature of the material.

                      The Danforth Incident

                      A study of a specific retro aesthetic of early 3D video games, this game tells the story of a student who woke up at the Danforth campus of WashU who suffered memory loss.

                        Virtual Jigeiko

                        Jigeiko is the Japanese word for "sparring". This in-progress virtual reality project could potentially be a tool to aid in the study of budo, specifically Japanese sword arts traditions. As a member of a tradition, I am fascinated by the potential of the overlap between virtual reality and fitness.

                          Sanxingdui Guardian

                          A whimsical Arduino project who guards a pearl.

                            Megalophilia

                            (Love of large objects) Plays with scale by manipulating filming angles and utilizing specific filming techniques.

                              A Dream Made For Tiktok

                              A dream-like experience, in the medium of an obscure TikTok Art Video.

                                An Imagined Rusty Dream

                                A VR experience that takes the viewer through a dream landscape, while listening to a monologue that talks about the philosophical concept of Qualia.

                                  Monologue on Qualia

                                  Incorporated into the piece "An Imagined Rusty Dream," it discusses my personal fascination with qualia and what drives my art practice.

                                    Assassins Barcart

                                    A barcart made for hypothetical assassination purposes; inspired by The Gates Of Hell by Auguste Rodin. Designed with a maximalist mindset, seeking to revert minimalism. Incorporated Gothic architectural elements.

                                      Childhood Collage

                                      A collage that seeks to capture the essence of my childhood experiences that contains what continues to inspire me in art-making.

                                        Kinetic Type

                                        An interpretation of Coyote Sees Himself In Water, a poem by Tacey M. Atsitty.

                                          ROBO492

                                          3D model of a character concept of a robot cat.

                                          Thumbnails Of Imagined Dreams

                                          Attempts to capture the multitude of dream experiences. As a Congressional Art Award Winning piece, it was temporarily displayed in the White House in Washington DC.

                                            Still Hear Seagulls

                                            Explores the effect of the simultaneity and juxtaposition of image and sound, and how they change the perception of one and another.

                                              Magic Lense

                                              Explores the automatic narrative effect of placing a certain visual filter over a piece of media.

                                                Light Object For Desktop

                                                Designed with the concept of containing and distributing light in a highly controlled manner.

                                                  Laboring Coathook

                                                  Stylized representation of “hand” in a flexed gesture of servitude alludes to the physical “labor” placed on the coathook in daily use.

                                                    Frankenstein TV Monster

                                                    Appears to have a Frankenstein-like consciousness, created through the juxtaposition of three pieces of media with individual contexts and stylizations.

                                                      Fountain

                                                      A sculptural exploration of the material quality of concrete, metal and their atmosphere and energy.

                                                        GTA Style Self Portrait

                                                          Imagined Sewer World

                                                          A sound piece that illustrates an imagined underground world of sewege, like the one found in TMNT.

                                                            Graffiti Wukong

                                                            My take on the famous character of Chinese lore.

                                                              Graffiti Glowing Monkeys

                                                              Made through Virtual Reality spray painting.

                                                                Drawing Of An Imagined Janitor

                                                                Drawing of an imagined personhood, life and scenery.

                                                                  Graffiti Yeti

                                                                  A creature who embodies the idea of audacious subversion.

                                                                    Anatomy Exercise

                                                                      Analog Environment Creator

                                                                      The first iteration in a series of future work that would result in a mini-version of the Las Vegas Sphere, recreating VR technology while giving back the viewers their bodies.

                                                                        Web Development Works

                                                                        Calendar

                                                                        Registered users can create, delete and edit events for specfic dates and times.

                                                                        Visit

                                                                          Chat Room

                                                                          Registered users can chat in the main lobby and private chat rooms with optional passwords and banned words.

                                                                          Visit

                                                                            News Sharing Site

                                                                            Registered users can submit and comment on news stories; all users can read new stories and comments.

                                                                            Visit

                                                                              Craigslist Redesign

                                                                              A design demo of a re-imagined Craigslist website, making it more user-friendly but still retaining a sense of the original website.

                                                                              Visit

                                                                                Suggestions For You

                                                                                Utilizing the Bored API, this website suggests activites to users based on custom preferences. The API no longer works, therefore only a video can be showcased.

                                                                                Visit

                                                                                  Contact Me