The Serpent and the Dragonfly – Media Art in a Chicano Gallery in Highland Park, LA 

About the Exhibition

We’re thrilled to invite you to The Serpent and the Dragonfly, now on view at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles. This presentation brings together works shaped over years of research and production in Southeast Asia—pieces projected across monumental LED screens in China and adapted for Ars Electronica’s Deep Space 8K Theater in Linz, Austria.

Background

In 2005, Mark moved to Singapore to help launch Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) as founding faculty, building a program where creative research generates new forms of knowledge.

Ina Conradi is a multidisciplinary media artist and Associate Professor at NTU. Her work spans experimental animation, immersive installations, and media architecture. Ina’s acclaimed films Chrysalis and Elysian Fields received multiple international awards, including Lumiere Awards from the Advanced Imaging Society. Our recent projects—Quantum LOGOS (Vision Serpent) and Moirai, Thread of Life—draw on quantum science and decolonial methodologies to visualize complex ideas through poetic, immersive experiences.

Media Art Nexus (NTU)

In 2015, we co-founded Media Art Nexus (MAN), a 15 × 2 m LED platform at NTU’s campus hub. MAN evolved into a public-facing digital gallery featuring real-time generative media and audio-responsive works. Mark develops reactive visuals using TouchDesigner, while Ina pioneered one of the region’s first courses integrating AI tools in art practice. Since launching in 2018, MAN has exhibited 1,000+ works and partnered with Ars Electronica, UCLA, and Public Art Lab Berlin.

Scale & Works

Our practice has grown across massive public displays in Asia, including a 170-meter canopy in Hangzhou viewed by over a million people daily. Quantum LOGOS (Vision Serpent) premiered at Ars Electronica’s Deep Space 8K, engaging audiences with mythic abstraction and generative code.

Why This Show Matters

The Serpent and the Dragonfly opens a new chapter: bringing research-driven media works into a neighborhood gallery. The scale is smaller; the conversations are deeper; the access is personal. We’re excited—and humbled—to share these installations with Los Angeles and to consider how works shaped in labs, theaters, and city plazas resonate in an intimate, community-based setting.