Jiayi Young’s showcase

 Jiayi Young’s showcase at Wriston invites viewers into a world where data, digital patterns, and online activity are transformed into tangible, physical experiences. A multi-disciplinary new media artist and associate professor of design at the University of California, Davis.

One of the first pieces that stood out was titled What Does the Bot Say to the Human? At first glance, it looks like a sci-fi inspired setup of tubes, fluorescent green liquid, and blinking lights. Although behind the glowing aesthetics is a powerful concept: the overwhelming presence of non human interactions on platforms like X. The lights move in a way that feels eerily natural at first, before becoming jittery and chaotic a visual expression of what Jiayi called an “irritated” system. The piece is a great example of how she makes abstract digital phenomena into something you can actually see, hear, and feel.

That focus on tangibility runs throughout the entire exhibit. A lot of Jiayi’s work deals with topics like algorithms, hashtags, disinformation, and even space exploration all things that typically live in the digital realm. Although, instead of just keeping it on screens, she turns it into physical installations. Massive graphs are printed out and hung like laundry on drying racks, timelines snake around the room, and even a software program she developed has been made accessible to visitors through an interactive setup.

What’s especially fascinating is the amount of behind the scenes work that goes into her pieces. For example, the X data she wanted to analyze wasn’t easily available, so she ended up working with a team to create her own research tool that could track the use of hashtags over time and visualize trends, especially during major disinformation events. Even better, she’s working on making that tool open source, so it can be available in public spaces like libraries. That dedication to accessibility says a lot about her values as both an artist and a researcher.

Another part of the exhibit that felt really personal was a wall of printed-out phone screenshots and photos. These images simple, everyday captures from her life could have easily been shown on a screen, but instead, she printed them out and added notes. It was a reminder that digital life is still human life, and it brought a raw, relatable energy to the gallery.

Jiayi’s ability to document not just her final pieces but the entire creative process is something that really stood out. From early prototypes to photos documenting the making of her NASA moon fragment molds, it’s clear she values process just as much as outcome. Her use of materials, sound, and even temperature all contribute to how people experience her work.

Overall, Jiayi Young’s exhibit is more than just a collection of art pieces it’s a conversation about the digital world we live in, and how art can help us see it more clearly. Her work doesn’t just ask you to look; it asks you to feel and question. And that’s what makes it so powerful.

Graphs that were printed and hung