Hey there,

I'm a New York–based Chinese artist, designer, and researcher whose work sits at the intersection of food, history, and sensory experience. Through experiential design, creative technology, and material experimentation, she creates installations and experiences that use taste, smell, and storytelling as tools for cultural reflection, sparking curiosity and collective meaning-making.

My work is strongly research-driven. I have conducted funded historical and ethnographic research on how recipes and food traditions traveled and adapted between East and Central Asia from the 7th to 13th century CE. This interest in food culture continues to shape my artistic approach. Whether through dumplings or cookies, my practice explores how individual and collective lives are intrinsically varied yet deeply connected across space and time.

My projects have appeared at Museum of Food and Drinks (MOFAD), Whitney Museum, Long Island Maker Fair, NYU Maker Space, and NYC Media Lab.

I'd love to hear from you, for thoughts, chats, or collaborations! 

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Una Zhang
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Three Feasts
Oct 2025
Overlooked dumpling histories reimagined through archival research and AI-generated period imagery in a quasi-museum setting, exploring how food, memory, and power shape cultural narratives.
Highlight:
Mixed Medium,
Archival Research,
AI-assisted
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A multisensory participatory event at the Whitney Museum exploring alternative worlds and futures for the sites through scenario cards, sensory prompts, and collective storytelling.
Highlight:
Scent Art,
Experience Design,
Participatory Art,
Read More
A three-parts project that uses dumplings as tangible expressions of cultural adaptation and identity formation, revealing how the unfamiliar, the alien, is folded into shared experience and archived into collective memories. 
Highlight:
Research,
Physical-build,
Participatory Art,
Experience Design,
Exhibition Design,
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Dark Room Experience for Alice Austen House
2024 - 2025
An end-to-end client project combining physical miniature, wall relief, and an augmented reality experience to help museum visitors explore Alice Austen’s darkroom setup and process, otherwise inaccessible on the closed-off second floor.
Highlight:
Client Work,
Research,
Experience Design,
Exhibition Design,
Augumented Reality,
Physical-build,
Read More
Cookie Lab
2023 - Present
A participatory sensory station that uses cookies to explore the interplay between taste and smell and between sensory experience and perception.
Highlight:
Research,
Physical-build,
Sensory Design,
Experience Design,
Exhibition Design,
Read More
Fated Time: A Recreation of the Antikythera Mechanism
Jan - June 2024
A research-based, multi-stage interactive installation that recreates the Antikythera Mechanism (~100 BCE) in a personal, playful, and informative way.
Highlight:
Research,
Physical-build,
Interaction Design,
Digital Fabrication,
Augmented Reality,
Exhibition Design,
Read More
Scents of Us
Oct 2023 - March 2024
2024 NYC Media Lab X Chanel Virtual  Synesthesia Challenge Winner
A multi-sensory experience where scents are rendered visible and audible.
Highlight:
Physical-build,
Multisensory Design,
Exhibition Design,
Read More