The author is not at the center
Kant's "Copernican revolution" placed the subject at the center of knowledge: human beings do not merely receive the world; they also organize experience. Artificial intelligence shifts the subject's position again: images and forms no longer arise from human intention alone. Algorithms, data, materials, and systems in operation can also generate unforeseeable forms.
系列 / Series
Generative · Self-replicating neural network
Single-channel video (color, silent) · Duration: loop
In L.H.O.O.Q., Duchamp used a pencil to add a moustache and goatee to a reproduction of the Mona Lisa. Here, two self-replicating neural networks generate the facial hair.
Generative · Self-replicating neural network · Two-dimensional periodic function
Single-channel video (color, silent) · Loop
No flower entered the system, yet a flower-like form appeared as it ran. In 花, 艹 (grass) meets 化 (change): through change, grass regenerates itself.
Weights generated by a self-replicating neural network enter a two-dimensional periodic function; its output and curl noise shape particle motion, allowing a flower-like form to emerge.
Generative · Self-replicating neural network
Digital image · Dimensions variable
Self-replicating neural networks use their own weights as material, reproducing those weights or their variations. The weights are both the object of the calculation and the parameters altered by it; each calculation therefore changes what the next one encounters. The stool's dimensions and structure form another set of equations, through which the network's internal weights become surface and structure.
Paper
Generative · Self-replicating neural network
Single-channel video (black and white, silent) · Loop
Parameters from a self-replicating network enter a Perlin-noise flow field, where particles emerge, operate, decay, and disappear before the cycle begins again. Form exists only briefly between generation and destruction.
In collaboration with: Lan Di, Xu Muhan, Li BingGenerative · Permutation algorithm · Squares
Digital image · Dimensions variable
Chinese strokes are translated into geometric units and recombined by a permutation algorithm. The algorithm generates structures; whether those structures are still read as writing depends on the viewer.
PaperMethod source: Kostas Terzidis, Permutation Design (2015)
Generative · Particle system · Geometric primitives
Real-time digital visual · Dimensions variable
Geometric particles connect, attract, or repel according to distance and random thresholds, generating images that resemble constellations. Adapted from Kostas Terzidis's particle-generation research.
Robotic arm · Neural network · Acrylic on canvas
60 × 50 cm (each)
The machine paints fields of colour that can stir human emotion, yet it feels none itself. It responds not to human emotion, but to its own previous output.
Words → neural network → color and direction → robotic arm → traces of paint
Chen De'en is a PhD candidate in Design at Tongji University. His doctoral research treats AI autonomy as a design material, joining generative systems with the philosophy of technology. From 2025 to 2026, he was a visiting researcher at the University of Turin's Center for Ontology.
A.I.O.O.N.
Tongji University · B4B Art Space
Shijian (The World)
With artist Yu Xingze · 14th Gwangju Biennale Global Metaverse Exhibition · Cheng Shifa Art Museum · Shanglin Art Museum
Artificial Emotions
Tongji University · Zhangjiang Artificial Intelligence Island
Self-Reference Design: A New Potential Design Methodology in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
2025From Canvas to Code: Artificial Intelligence as a Potential Demonstration for Object-Oriented Ontology
2025Finally, the Death of the Author! A Detournement Strategy for Decolonizing the Artistic Venue
2024Deep Permutation Type Design for Chinese Characters
研究与联系 / Research & Contact
This line of inquiry developed through long-term discussions and collaborative research with Kostas Terzidis and Filippo Fabrocini on artificial intelligence, object-oriented ontology, and authorship.
