Yiou Wang
Batopia, for which Yiou Wang received a CAF grant, is a first-person VR game that lets the player see the world as a bat through conceptual, technological, and imaginative lenses—to immerse themselves in the sensory umwelt (subjective experienced world) of another animal whose sensory apparatuses are very different from ours.
For Batopia, Yiou Wang uses Trans-Sensory Mapping, integrating scientific research with the interactive medium of game. TSM simulates a bat’s phenomenal world amidst a wide range of cognitive, social, and esthetic contexts, mapping bats’ complex musical sensibility and sonic meaning-making to the player’s immersive artistic experience, with slowed-down field recordings of Great Sac-Winged Bats.
Batopia was displayed at :iidrr Gallery at the end of July 2024 (see photos below by Sania Bhatia), and you can watch the game’s trailer here. By the end of 2024, a fourth version of the game had been developed, Yiou had created three realistic bat masks designed to fit onto the VR headset (see gallery), and Batopia had been showcased (and played) in three shows. Since producing Batopia, Yiou has lectured at New York University, presented a paper at the 2025 MOTH Festival in New York City, and held a solo exhibition of her work entitled “Becoming Other.”
Yiou Wang is a nomadic Chinese artist in the field of media arts, encompassing video, immersive and interactive arts, game, installation and XR, with prior training in architectural design. She graduated with an M.Arch from Harvard Graduate School of Design, receiving the Mind Brain Behavior Interdisciplinary Award. She has exhibited, spoken and received awards worldwide at exhibitions and festivals, including SXSW, SIGGRAPH, the Red Dot Award, Muse Award, and Asian Media Arts Festival. She was a global shortlisted finalist for S+T+ARTS Prize in 2022.
Yiou’s multidisciplinary and immersive exploration of bats’ umwelt relates to Gal Nissim’s practice, which sheds light on the complex lives of synanthropic animals through the intersection of technology, science, and art.
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