Avatopology 2.0
“Avatopology 2.0” operates through a structured relay of image translation. Beginning with a blurred photograph of the artist, the work is developed across sequential stages in which participants alternately render 2D drawings and 3D avatars. Each contributor receives only the output of the previous stage, translating it into another medium without reference to the original source.
This alternating chain of 2D and 3D reinterpretation produces a recursive system of transformation, where the image is continuously re-mediated, abstracted, and reconstituted. Over time, the process generates a distributed lineage of avatars in which authorship is diffused and the notion of an “original” image becomes unstable, if not entirely obsolete.
What this is
Avatopology 2.0 is a relay. One blurred self-portrait of the artist seeds the chain. Stage 1 artists each draw a 2D image from that seed. Stage 2 artists receive a single Stage 1 drawing and translate it into a 3D model. Stage 3 artists receive a single Stage 2 render and make a new 2D drawing from it. Each participant sees only the immediately previous output — never the original.
Where Avatopology (2024) practiced distributed interpretation — many artists making independent portraits of the same source — Avatopology 2.0 practices recursive transformation: authorship hands off down a chain, the source recedes, and the work accepts error accumulation, accident, and the risk of total collapse of the system.
Reference mechanisms in the brief: Pass the Parcel · Hot Potato · Chinese Whispers · Exquisite Corpse · 击鼓传花.
After the relay
Each collaborator is invited to answer four short questions: cultural background and current location; a recent book or album that inspired them; an object from their world worth sharing; and a photograph of their Fiverr username handwritten in their first language. Responses sit alongside the visual work in Volume II and inform the September 2026 panel.
Deliverables for 2.0
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Solo exhibition — Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, September 2026, curated by Joyce Chung.
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Artist book — Avatopology — Volume II, in collaboration with Page Bureau (publisher).
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Animations and installation elements — building on the 3D deliveries.
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Public Zoom panel — with collaborators, September 2026.
Collaborators retain the right to use their work in their own portfolios; the artist retains copyright to the final installation, animation, and book.
Acknowledgments
Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia · Page Bureau (publisher, Volume II) · and the Stage collaborators above, whose hands carry this project forward.
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