Wendi Yan (b. 1999, Beijing) constructs speculative epistemologies through research-driven worldbuilding and metafictional simulation, using CGI, game engines, and documentary practices to probe and play with the artifice of knowledge. Her work—spanning films, interactive media, and fictional archival installations—examines the embodied challenges of facing alien epistemic systems across time. Staging fiction to investigate what constitutes the real, she models metaphysical instruments, animates epistemological creatures, and engineers virtual environments governed by counterfactual logics.
Yan holds an A.B. in History of Science from Princeton University and a M.S. in Fiction and Entertainment from SCI-Arc. She was an inaugural member of the Steve Jobs Archive Fellowship (2023), the Grand Prix recipient of the 6th VH Award by Hyundai Motor Group (2025), and a resident at A24 Labs (2025).
