Danni Zheng

Danni is a Chinese spatial designer and new media artist, currently based in London. Her works range from spatial design and illustration to digital interactive art and immersive experience. During her BA period, she focused on the renewal and transformation of physical spaces as well as the exploration of future living spaces and modes. Her current work explores the relationship between physical and virtual space through investigating the status quo and speculating the future in a digital way.

Education

Beijing University of Technology | BA Environment Design, 2015-2019

Royal College of Art | MA Information Experience Design, 2019-2021

Selected Exhibition

Rare Known, Dyson Gallery, London, 2019

Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Art, Online, 2021

Post-epidemic Era, No Space, Online, 2021

BEEP BEEP, Menier Gallery, London, 2021

Changes always go beyond plans.

We live in a chaotic world where everything is changing rapidly, so recording the current life and imagining the future based on the present frequently has naturally become Danni’s main research theme throughout her MA course. She usually uses illustration, animation and interactive immersive experience as main forms for creation.

Her ongoing research is about criticising and re-rendering current social issues such as consumerism, modernism, technology, then speculating the future. Mineral Wasteland is an immersive film that focuses on negative impacts of technological development on the natural environment, and depicts the post-human age wasteland, in which digital entities will still exist on the Earth but integrate with nature.

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IED hotline extension number #227

To leave a comment or say anything nice about my work, please dial the free IED hotline number 020 39831592 or overseas +(44)2039831592. International calls cost subject to your operators fees.

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IED Upcoming Physical Show

BEEP BEEP, Menier Gallery, London, 23-25 July 2021

https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/beep-beep-end-end-world-ied-experience/

Mineral Wasteland

Playmode Preview

Download the PC Client to explore Mineral Wasteland

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1upyYn7bXVNXvYpaAs1hraUea6K0cJ5Sp?usp=sharing

(Only for Windows)

More Details on https://danni-zheng.com/portfolio/mineral-wasteland/

Voiceover: Huizhi Huang

Medium:

Unity 3D, Blender

Size:

00:06:41

Digital Devices From My Daily Life | Trade-in and Recycling Receipt

Current Status | Dealing with These E-waste

Diagram

After the pandemic, the world becomes more digital and remote. The right picture shows my work table, which was placed with many digital devices, ranging from computers and cables to sensors. At the same time, I tried to use the trade-in and recycling service before updating devices.

However, what will happen after recycling?

Consumerism and planned obsolescence are prevalent in our high-speed society. Advances of technology are actually the consumption of natural resources and contaminate the air, soil, and river. At the end of 2020, human-made stuff outweighed all life on earth. We have realised the scarcity of mineral and other natural resources and tried to deal with these wastes. We design a dismantling robot, and use e-waste to make new jewellery, furniture, and even develop an urban mining industry. However, less than 20% of such waste can be collected and recycled properly. Ironically, capitalists still produce countless new products for their wealth, and consumers like follow the mainstream and satisfy their desire by buying more products. The recycling activities cannot keep pace with the growth of waste.

In this project, I focus on negative impacts of technological development on the natural environment, and imagine a posthuman-era mineral wasteland, in which digital entities still exist on the Earth and integrate with nature. The virtual ruins will have their own identity and be a part of future environment. It will carry the memory of consumerism, modernism, and capitalism in the present Anthropocene.