Jack B. Du is an artist and researcher whose work centers around experimentation and exploration, with code as his primary medium. His work ranges from robotic drawings and algorithmically fabricated objects to computational sketches and screen-based interactive installations. Jack’s work has been exhibited internationally at events such as Shenzhen Design Week (2018) in China, Sikka Art and Design Festival (2022) in the UAE, C3 Dev Festival (2024) in the Netherlands, and Interactive Media Art Show (2023 & 2024) in the US. He led a global workshop at DigitalFUTURES (2023), and delivered a featured presentation at Zaojiu (2018) in China. A selection of his work was published in the proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI ‘23).
Jack holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Interactive Media Arts from NYU Shanghai and is currently pursuing a Master of Professional Studies degree in Interactive Telecommunications at NYU Tisch. Jack also serves as an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch, where he teaches programming and machine learning as mediums for creative expression.
Contact
Follow me on Instagram to see my daily coding experiments.
Subscribe to My Coding Show on YouTube to learn how I code.
Email me via hi@jackbdu.com for collaboration or commission inquires.
Artist Statement
I speak the language of computers. I encode my stories, emotions, curiosities, and experiences into images, animations, and interactive visuals through the relentless act of daily coding. My works are never truly finished. I am constantly on a journey of exploration, experimentation, and reiteration.
Coding as an art practice is much like painting. Code is a sequence of characters that encapsulate a creative process—conceived, revised, altered, and continually revisited. While the outcome of code is often what is seen, the code itself is like layers and layers of paints underneath a painting, easily forgotten. By sharing the meticulous process of crafting code, I make myself vulnerable, allowing people to peek into the inner workings of my artwork.
My work often deconstructs visuals into pixelated fragments, an aesthetic rooted in nostalgia for the past. In a capitalistic society that prizes superhuman precision, my blurry and often abstract pieces celebrate the poetic beauty of human imperfection and computational glitches, while also leaving space for people to decode meaning through the lens of their own lived experiences.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 | “Daily Sketches (2022)” C3 Dev Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2024 | ”Blob Mirror” Interactive Media Art Show, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2024 | “Mandarinizer” Pudong Library, Shanghai, China
2023 – 2024 | “Daily Sketches (2022)” React Summit Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023 – 2024 | “Daily Sketches (2022)” JSNation Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023 | “Mandarinizer” Featured Artist Exhibition, NYU Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China
2023 | “Scribbot” Interactive Media Art Show, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2023 | “Daily Sketches (2022)” International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI 2023), Guangzhou, China
2022 | “Mandarinizer” Zayed University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2022 | “Mandarinizer” Sikka Art and Design Festival, Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood, Dubai, UAE
2018 | “Mandarinizer” Shenzhen Design Week, Shenzhen, China
2018 | “Mandarinizer” Shanghai Education Expo, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
2017 | “Minus E” Finalist Exhibition, USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai, China
2017 | “This is Where I Live” The Map as Art, NYU Shanghai Gallery, Shanghai, China
2017 | “Minus E” Shanghai Science Expo, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
2017 | “Minus E” Undergraduate Research Symposium, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
Selected Teaching and Workshops
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY, USA
2024 | IMNY-UT 224 Introduction to Machine Learning for the Arts, IMA (Undergraduate)
2023 – 2024 | IMNY-UT 101 Creative Computing, IMA (Undergraduate)
2024 | Creative Coding Workshop Series for Absolute Beginners, ITP Camp
Dongming Neighborhood Development Center, Shanghai, China
2024 | Creative Coding Workshop for Family
DigitalFUTURES International Online Workshops, Worldwide
2023 | Creative Coding Workshop Series for Absolute Beginners
Sikka Art and Design Festival, Dubai, UAE
2022 – 2023 | Creative Coding Workshop for Absolute Beginners
Dubai Design Week, Dubai, UAE
2022 | Creative Coding Workshops for Absolute Beginners
New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2022 – 2023 | Creative Coding Workshop Series for Absolute Beginners
2020 – 2022 | Web Development Workshop Series for Absolute Beginners
Selected Talks and Presentations
2023 | Artist Talk: Daily Experiments in Creative Coding, Maker Faire Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2023 | Artist Talk: Daily Experiments in Creative Coding, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2022 | Guest Speaker, Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U), Toronto, Canada
2018 | Making Art with a Robot, Zaojiu, Shanghai, China
2018 | Artist Talk, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2017 | Artist Talk, New Media Art and Cultural and Creative Industry Conference, Shanghai, China
2017 | Artist Talk, R/GA Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2017 | Artist Talk, Shanghai Library, Shanghai, China
Selected Awards and Grants
2023 – 2025 | Tisch School of Arts Graduate Scholarship, NYU, USA
2022 – 2023 | Professional Development Fund, NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE
2017 | Interactive Media Arts Fellowship, NYU Shanghai, China
2017 | Excellence Award (Finalist), Shanghai International Digital Creation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, China
2017 | Best Technology and Visual Demonstration Award, Undergraduate Research Symposium, NYU Shanghai, China
2017 | 5th Place, International Robot Art Competition, USA
2015 | Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund, NYU Shanghai, China
Selected Press and Publications
2023 | Jack B. Du: Daily Sketches (2022). The 16th International Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction (VINCI 2023), September 22–24, 2023, Guangzhou, China. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3615522.3615571
2023 | “Alumni Voices: Jack B. Du ’17”, NYU Shanghai People, Apr. 21, 2023.
2018 | “我为什么要费尽心思造出一个不完美的绘画机器人？” [Why Did I Painstakingly Build an Imperfect Drawing Robot?], Zaojiu, July 19, 2018.
2018 | “机器时代即将到来｜新锐艺术家专访” [Emerging Artist Interview: the Age of Robots is Around the Corner], MANA, July 16, 2018.
2018 | Juliet Turner: “Creative Machines”, NYU Shanghai Magazine, Spring 2018.