A Walled City is an interactive AI art installation that constructs a decentralized city in real time, grounded in the visual memories contributed by its participants. The project draws conceptual inspiration from the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City (1950s–1993), a hyper-dense, self-organized enclave that emerged from a historically and politically ambiguous zone in Hong Kong, China. In this unregulated environment, residents built freely, without adherence to conventional safety codes or urban planning norms. The resulting spatial assemblage was more than a chaotic architectural cluster—it functioned as a self-sustaining social ecosystem: part megastructure, part living community.
A Walled City adopts the spatial logic and urban organization of the Kowloon Walled City as fundamental knowledge for its AI system. It further extends this legacy by embedding its aesthetic and conceptual sensibility into the creation of a virtual, ever-expanding city. During the exhibition, participants are invited to upload an image that encodes a personal visual memory. The system analyzes and transforms each image into a unique chamber — serving as a vessel of information and memory—which is then situated as a building block within the larger virtual structure. These chambers interconnect and interact with one another, forming a continually evolving rhizomatic network.
Through the integration of a customized multi-agent AI framework, data-driven computer graphics, and immersive interaction design, the project critically examines how decentralized and self-organizing systems can shape spatial construction of our collective identity, and socio-technical memory. Drawing from historical precedents of non-hierarchical urban forms, A Walled City reimagines the dynamics of social complexity and cultural contradiction in the post-human condition. It further explores how co-creation between humans and machines can serve not only as a technical paradigm but as a speculative method for reconstructing shared histories, identities, and future imaginaries, beyond techno-utopian ideals.
Artist Biography
Dr. Weidi Zhang is a new media artist based in Los Angeles and Phoenix. She is an Assistant Professor at the Media and Immersive eXperience center of Arizona State University. Her research investigates Speculative Assemblages at the intersection of immersive media, data visualization, and AI art. Her works are featured in international awards, conferences, and museums, such as Best In Show Awards in SIGGRAPH, Red Dot Design Award, A’ Design Award, Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica, Lumen Prize Shortlist, ISEA, V2 Lab, Times Art Museum, Mutek, and others. She holds her Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Jieliang (Rodger) Luo is the CEO and Chief Scientist at Minus AI, a Singapore-based, research-driven startup focused on leveraging AI technology to empower the creative industry. The company develops AI tools to enhance creative processes and complete work more effectively. He holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has previously served as a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Autodesk AI Lab in San Francisco.
Links
▶ www.zhangweidi.com
▶ Instagram
▶ LinkedIn
Other Credits
▶ AI Supervisor: Wang Yi (Midjourney)
▶ Photos and images credit to Weidi Zhang and Rodger (Jieliang) Luo<