MESH Studio Exhibition | Launch Event
Join us for an opening party for launching our first two-week exhibition with MESH Studio, a Digital Architecture Lab (DAL) experimental project dedicated to interpreting frontier research as playful, interactive experiences.
✨ What to Expect
This event launches a two-week gallery showcase, where visitors can engage with the installations and researchers. You’ll have the chance to:
Meet the researchers and creators behind the work, ask questions, and explore their inspirations.
Interact with the artifacts— a space where you can touch, play, and engage with research across biotechnology, artificial intelligence, integrated sensors, and digital installations.
Discover more about DAL, the projects it incubates, and its mission to bridge technology, culture, and society.
Enjoy some light snacks while mingling with a diverse community of artists, researchers, and innovators at the intersection of frontier tech and citizen science.
How to get there from the front of the building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ga0OI6ysnI
🔎 Featured Exhibitions
🦠 Biotopy – Using a Pioreactor-based engine, grow microbial cultures that terraform a virtual planet, exploring bio-digital Symbiocine.
🌱 Digital Terrarium – Watch digital life evolve via hologram based on real-time environmental data, visualizing sensors into tangible magic.
🎼 Distributed Musical Organ – Play an interactive, AI-assisted mechanical organ that spans both local and global participation.
⛩️ Computing Shrines – Visitors offer their phones to share memories. Portals connect two locations, showing live presence through light, sound, and ambient interactions via a website.
Whether you’re an artist, scientist, technologist, or just curious about the future of technology, we hope to see you there!
🌐 Meet the Researchers/Team
Ira Winder is a researcher specializing in interactive simulations for complex problem-solving. With degrees in City Planning and Art and Design from MIT, he is a researcher at MIT Engineering Systems Laboratory and the University of Tokyo. He developed the Tangible Interactive Matrix (TIM), used in the MIT Media Lab's CityScope Project, and has presented at TEDx Boston and the G7 ICT Conference. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Financial Times Magazine, and a White House report on future cities.
Darren Zhu is a synthetic biologist building a new consumer therapeutics startup. A graduate of Yale and a former Thiel Fellow, Darren has worked with a range of biotech startups (Hexagon Bio, Enevolv, and Synbiosys) and research organizations (Berggruen Institute, Ethereum Foundation, and Gates Foundation). He is also developing new media and philosophy projects that explore the aesthetic and epistemic implications of generative models, particularly as they pertain to creativity and scientific discovery.
Wendi Yan is an artist and researcher combining folktales with speculative philosophy in simulations, film, and sculpture. A History of Science graduate from Princeton University and recipient of the Horace H. Wilson Thesis Prize, her work has been supported by the Arctic Circle Residency, Berggruen Institute, and Ethereum Foundation. Based in Los Angeles, Wendi is a Steve Jobs Archive Fellow and VH Award finalist, with features in WeTransfer and Wallpaper.
Will Freudenheim is a New York-based game designer creating experimental games and virtual worlds. He co-founded Laser Days, where he directs films, live performances, and installations that have premiered globally. His work explores collaboration among human, artificial, and biological participants in shared digital spaces.
Spencer Chang is an internet artist and engineer focused on speculative communal infrastructure through participatory installations and creative technologies. Their work has been featured at the de Young Museum, Gray Area, and CultureHub, with exhibitions in San Francisco, New York, and Berlin. A NEW INC Art & Code member, they emphasize collective play and dismantling oppressive systems.
Laurie Griffiths is a software engineer and consultant based in Fukuoka, Japan, with a Computer Science degree from Cambridge. A former early hire at startups, he now helps software teams simplify development and reduce costs. Outside of work, Laurie mentors engineers at Fukuoka’s Engineer Cafe and builds creative projects in his workshop.
Michelle Huang is a mixed-media artist and technologist exploring human flourishing through immersive experiences. She is the founder of Akiya Collective, a non-profit renovating abandoned homes in Japan, and Co-Director of MESH Studio, a media lab for emerging technologies. A graduate of NYU, she previously worked at Goldman Sachs and received an Emergent Ventures grant. Her work has been featured on Business Insider, NPR, Vox Media (Now This), ABC, CNET, The Independent, BBC, and more
Keiko Ono is a strategist and ecosystem builder with +10years experience in social impact and technology across the public and private sector (Google, British Embassy). A graduate of SOAS, she consults for Series A–C startups in Japan and is Co-Director of MESH Studio, a media lab for emerging technologies. Her previous work as Co-founder of Social Innovation Japan has been recognised by Nikkei’s ‘100 Businesses Creating the Future of Japan’ and the Minister of Environment Prize.
About MESH Studio:
MESH Studio is a platform for experiments and collaborations between citizens and professional researchers, aiming to bring ideas to life. Our goal is to make frontier research accessible and relatable to the public through playful and interactive installations and other forms of media.
Directors: Michelle Huang and Keiko Ono
https://dalab.xyz/en/project/mesh-studio/
About Digital Architecture Lab (DAL):
DAL is an experimental research lab where designers, engineers, and scientists collaborate to bridge the gap between technology, culture, and society. Our mission is to develop "a new digital sensibility" that shapes the emerging architectural paradigm by blending practical application with theoretical understanding.
https://dalab.xyz/