{"id":7057,"date":"2025-09-11T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/news-itp-alums-mary-mark%24xiaotian-zhang%24jess-shen-24\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:00:00","slug":"news-itp-alums-mary-mark%24xiaotian-zhang%24jess-shen-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/news-itp-alums-mary-mark%24xiaotian-zhang%24jess-shen-24\/","title":{"rendered":"ITP Alums Mary Mark (’24), Xiaotian Zhang (’24), Jess Shen (’24) and John Luo (’25) to present work at PASEO 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The PASEO outdoor art festival<\/a> brings projection, installation, and performance art to the streets of Taos, New Mexico every fall. This free, community centered event features local, regional, national, and international artists with work that is site-specific, context responsive and participatory. For two nights, sunset to 11pm, the PASEO brings the community together with a creative and inspiring shared experience.<\/p>\n

This year, several ITP alum will be featured. Mary Mark (’24), Xiaotian Zhang (’24), Jess Shen (’24) and John Luo (’25) will present the work below:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Mary<\/p>\n
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mary mark<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cMetamorphosis\u201d | Interactive AI Installation<\/a> by Mary Mark & John Luo<\/h4>\n

Metamorphosis<\/i> is a performance and installation that blurs the boundary between the physical and digital, confronting questions of virtual identity, autonomy, and human connection. At the heart of the piece is Notame, an autonomous virtual dancer designed to explore new forms of motion-based interaction between humans and machines in shared physical space.<\/p>\n

The work unfolds as a 15-minute duet between a live dancer and Notame, navigating themes of escapism, hopelessness, and the pursuit of liberation within a blended reality. Through this interaction, Metamorphosis<\/i> invites audiences to reflect on how technology mediates identity, agency, and the search for meaning in a hybrid world.<\/p>\n

Between live performances, Notame transitions into an installation mode, generating real-time choreography and existing independently as a digital performer. This ongoing presence allows visitors to engage with the work at their own pace, observing how the virtual dancer\u2019s movements evolve and respond in real-time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"bench\"<\/p>\n
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\u201chere\u201d | Interactive Installation<\/a> by Xiaotian Zhang<\/h4>\n

here<\/i> is an interactive LED bench that captures the subtle imprint of presence and transforms it into a fleeting visual memory. When a visitor sits on the bench, their movements are quietly recorded. It\u2019s only after they rise and walk away that their silhouette is revealed, glowing softly as a ghostly afterimage. Over time, these silhouettes fade, underscoring the ephemeral nature of our moments in space.<\/p>\n

By delaying the visual response until after a participant departs, here<\/i> shifts attention to the quiet resonance we leave behind\u2014those unnoticed marks of presence that linger, however briefly, in the spaces we inhabit. As silhouettes dissolve, the installation becomes a meditation on memory, absence, and the delicate threshold between now and then.<\/p>\n

Through a minimal yet evocative interaction, here<\/i> invites visitors to reflect on the transient beauty of existence, encouraging them to pause, be still, and witness how quickly the present transforms into the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"you<\/p>\n
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\u201cyou are here\u201d | Interactive Installation<\/a> by Jessica Shen<\/h4>\n

you are here<\/i> is an interactive LED installation that visualizes human presence in real-time. As visitors move through the space, their movements are translated into radiant waves of light that seem to emanate directly from their bodies. When two people approach one another, their colors blend and intermix, creating a shared moment of visual connection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PASEO 2025 will feature work from ITP Alums Mary Mark (’24), Xiaotian Zhang (’24), Jess Shen (’24) and John Luo (’25).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itp.nyu.edu\/itp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}