I’m a researcher, designer, and artist based in New York. I’m curious of understanding and creating human experiences, especially on those that connect us across space and time. My work explores different mediums across disciplines, often inspired by research in the history and biology. By experimenting with various technologies to add a touch of magic to experiences, I aim to invite people to see the familiar in unexpected ways.

Food is a special area of interest of mine. It is an anchor point for exploring cultural connections and investigating how perspectives have been shaped. Previously, I’ve spent my time researching how recipes traveled and adapted between East and Central Asia from the 7th to 13th Century CE, including funded research in field.

Currently, I’m pursuing an MPS (Master in Professional Studies) at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication Program (ITP). I hold an MA in history from Columbia University and a BA in Liberal Arts from NYU. My projects have appeared at NYU Maker Space, Museum of Food and Drinks (MOFAD), Long Island Maker Fair, and NYC Media Lab.

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Una Zhang
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What if? A Speculartive Mixer on the Hudson
Overview
WHAT IF? is a participatory program inviting visitors to imagine alternative versions of this museum, the neighbourhood, the Hudson River, and reality . Each participant received a “WHAT IF?” scenario card—absurd, plausible, or contradictory—and is prompted to imagine and discussed “what If? if this is true, what else might be true?”

The event incorporated multisensory elements—food (Jen Monroe), sound (Andrew Steinmetz), and scent (my contribution)—to create intentional pauses in an otherwise fast-paced evening. These sensory components served as grounding points for shifting attention, offering a brief moment to slow down, sense, recall, and imagine. This small shift in pace supported the larger goal: imagining worlds that are structurally different from our own but still tied to this specific site.
Collaborators
Leading Artists: Marina Zurkow, Sarah Rothberg (More&More)
Jen Monroe (Food) | Andrew Steinmetz (Music)
My Roles
Concept (Scents), Scent art, Experiential Design
Public Viewing
Public Program at Whiney Museum of American Art _ Sep 5th 2025
The Scents

My role was to create scent-based artifacts from speculative worlds. Based on the theme, I made a set of four scents intended to act as fragments of a moment or a place: something emotional, associative, or slightly disorienting.The blends were created using a combination of professional perfume materials, fog-machine scents, and homemade organic mixtures (e.g., seaweed infusions, baking soda, etc). The goal wasn't to create pleasant smells, but to create something distinctive yet disassociating enough to intrigue and invite interpretation and imagination.

The four scents are:
1. Old Paper / “Museum Perfume” — archives, cultural memory, bodily presence in institutional spaces
2. Seaweed / Salty Water / Sulfur / Mold — Hudson River ecosystems, microbial and tidal environments
3. Burned Rubber / Plastic / Gasoline / Incense — transportation, industrial labor, rituals
4. Rotting Flesh / Blood / Sweetness / Citrus Cleaner — a mix of gore, uneasiness, and the recognizable smell of something “covered up but still present”
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The Smell Experience
Experientially, we first outlined the behaviors we wanted to encourage—curiosity, careful smelling, a moment of pause, small suspense, and shared comparison. From six initial possible delivery formats, we selected the one that best supported these behaviors and worked reliably across all five rounds.
The final system used cotton balls as scent carriers, small paper sauce cups placed upside down on a metal tray, and a simple “pick one, flip it over, smell” gesture. The cups were marked with different shades of blue to distinguish the four scent profiles. The flipping motion added a brief moment of suspense, and the lightweight cups made it easy for people to pass them around and smell each other’s picks.
During the event, participants drew a random scenario card uppn entry and encountered additional “WHAT IF?” questions posted around the room. Facilitators offered different cups into the crowd, encouraging participants to take one or more, think out loud, and share their memories and associations with one another—including with strangers. The event ends with a group reflection session facing the Hudson River, led by Marina and Sarah.
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