00 Zhang
2026
95*55*65cm
2d pixel game, dna, Screen, resin, integrated AI system, ESP32, servo

✿‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̥°̩̥‧̥·̊✿°̩̥‧̥‧̥ ‧̥˚̩̩̥͙·‧̥·̊‧̥✿‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥✿·̊·̊‧̥··̊‧̥°̩̥✿˚̩̩̥͙·
00 Replica Series is an experimental simulator that imagines non-human computational lifeforms as fragile, intimate, and in need of care. Drawing from close studies of hacked and modded Tamagotchi handheld pets, Zhang constructs a hybrid replica woven from her own DNA data–reimagining the replica’s physical structure, electronics, and embedded game. The work asks how much of our humanity is projected into technological companions and what it means for humans to nurture machines. Positioned between artifact and organism, the work reframes care as a reciprocal relationship between humans and machines.
✿‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̥°̩̥‧̥·̊✿°̩̥‧̥‧̥ ‧̥˚̩̩̥͙·‧̥·̊‧̥✿‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥✿·̊·̊‧̥··̊‧̥°̩̥✿˚̩̩̥͙·

This project introduces a experimental simulator that hosts a series of pixel-style or 3D-rendered digital organisms generated from real human DNA data. Built as an interactive device functions simultaneously as a container, and a laboratory for observing non-human computational lifeforms. At the centre of the project is a reimagined form of the Tamagotchi. The Tamagotchi emerged in the 1990s as a prosthetic for presence—an intimate stand-in for companionship. It operated as a miniature synthetic organism, its shifting visuals and scripted behaviors echoing the pulse and rhythms of human life. In its simplicity, it staged a quiet choreography of care, dependency, and simulated vitality. DNA—traditionally understood as a biological archive—is translated into computational parameters that define the organism’s appearance, animation cycles, response systems, and modes of interaction.

Here, DNA is treated not as biological fact but as generative code capable of producing new kinds of artificial life. By embedding human DNA into a computational ecosystem, the project examines how “life” operates when detached from a biological substrate, and how humans relate to entities that originate from their own data yet evolve autonomously within a digital environment. Within computational systems, cultural practices—once rooted in embodied, communal contexts—transform into algorithmically modulated behaviours: fluid, executable, and structurally dependent on machine logic rather than human tradition. Cultural memory also becomes platformal.

Instead of narratives, objects, archives, or oral histories, memory now relies on storage formats, servers, data retention policies, algorithmic resurfacing, recommendation logics, and machine-readable metadata. Culture is no longer remembered by people; it is curated, promoted, or buried by the system itself. In this sense, the future of culture is determined—almost literally—by servers. This project extends that lineage by replacing fiction with biological data. The digital organism generated from real human DNA becomes a next-generation Tamagotchi: not a virtual pet, but a computational embodiment of the artist’s genetic presence.