The UC Davis Department of Design Museum and The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) present visiting scholar Jia-Ming Day, Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), in a Research in Design talk on Oct. 7.

Day holds an MFA in Computer Graphics from Pratt Institute in New York. He is a professor of New Media Art at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA) and currently serves as a visiting scholar at California Lighting Technology Center, UC Davis. Through his curation efforts, he aims to reinterpret the definition and forms of animation, advocating that it should not be confined to mainstream media and stereotypes. He utilizes a combination of virtual and physical mediums, such as inflatable material, cash machine, 3D printing, turntables, and AR/VR, to seek new forms and subjects that bring life to the environment. His animation works, from print to media, have been exhibited at international conferences such as ARS ELECTRONICA, SIGGRAPH, HCI International, and AHFE.

In recent years, he has been closely following the development of light art and immersive environments in his research topics, for example: EAT Da Vinci (art installation at the 2023 Ars Electronica Festival), which aims to connect interdisciplinary creative experiences, particularly focusing on how different art disciplines communicate and collaborate, as well as how non-traditional exhibition spaces provide artistic experiences. He started the Kuan Du Light Art Festival, which combines landscape and cross-field performances, and has become a key project of the Kuan Du Art Festival.

Day’s residency at UC Davis is through Dec. 31, 2024, at the invitation of CLTC’s co-director Jae Yong Suk.

Day’s talk begins at 12pm in Cruess Hall, Room 1105. The Oct. 7 event is free.