On Sunday, October 18, 2026 Ranger Liu (@ranger_yurong) completed their three-week New Media residency with us!

Ranger Liu (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and astrophysicist interested in cross-applying the truth-making methodologies of science and art to bridge the gap between “objective” and “subjective” knowledge. Their creative practice repurposes abstract theory, such as math, physics, astronomy, and linguistics, to explore and communicate the lived experiences of human and posthuman subjects.

Ranger holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design and BA degrees in Astrophysics and Computer Science from Columbia University. They currently live and work in Seattle, Washington, where they moonlight as an astronomer searching for extraterrestrial communications. Their work has been exhibited and published nationally, including at CURRENTS New Media Festival, New Interfaces for Musical Expression, and the Ammerman Center Symposium on Arts and Technology. They have been awarded residencies from I-Park Foundation, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and Peter Bullough Foundation.



Ranger said the following about their residency:

“I completed a rough draft of a 20-minute sonic composition for a sculptural 7-channel speaker array, including both the notated composition and an audio recording. I developed graphic notations and compositional processes based on the Thue-Morse mathematical sequence. For the audio, I recorded sounds from the modular synths as well as my own speaking voice and vocalizations. I also built two new maxmsp instruments: an ‘alien’ sound which sonifies the radio astronomy Wow! signal from 1977, and a ‘universe’ sound which sonifies different models of the Cosmic Microwave Background (background radiation from the Big Bang).”



To learn more about Ranger’s work, you can view their artist talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/4ZyKFqYkIbI?si=hangk8tLVMNDbGJz