Xin Liu

Xin Liu (b. Xinjiang) is an artist and engineer developing Cosmic Metabolism, a conceptual and material framework that examines the transformation, circulation, and degradation of matter across technological and planetary systems. Her work traces the entropic aftermath of scientific and industrial ambition, following the trajectories of artifacts beyond their intended function and foregrounding exhaust as a generative state.

Liu’s practice operates across material and algorithmic systems, from substances and infrastructures such as orbital debris, decommissioned satellites, petroleum, and engineered biological matter to computational systems that enact processes of growth, erosion, and emergence.

Liu’s interdisciplinary background bridges contemporary art and advanced scientific research. She has held research and artistic positions, including Artist-in-Residence at the SETI Institute and founding Arts Curator of the Space Exploration Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, and is a Visiting Fellow at Cornell Tech (2024–25). As first author, she has published in Nature Microgravity and received a lasting impact award for her paper in 2026 at The Augmented Humans (AHs) International Conference. Liu led and successfully launched two payloads to the International Space Station and one suborbital payload onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard system, and has flown three parabolic research flights. She currently leads creative and strategy at Episteme, a new science research institute.

Liu has been commissioned by institutions such as Hyundai Artlab, BMW Culture Group, M+ Museum, Google Arts and Culture, and Ars Electronica. Her work has been shown at major venues worldwide, including the Shanghai Biennale, Thailand Biennale, MoMA PS1 (New York), MAXXI (Rome), and the Sundance Film Festival. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award, the inaugural K11 Artist Prize, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, the X Museum Triennial Award, and the Sundance New Frontier Story Lab Fellowship.