Kevin Tang

EYE-PARATUS is a machine that I built this semester that explores the relationship between human and machine through light projection. @harvardgsd @mediums.domain

| gpTea | 2024 | intergenerational storytelling through LLM tea making 🍃☕ “gpTea” is a tea set that preserves and encourages the sharing of untold stories between separated friends and loved ones through generative AI. It enhances the ritual of tea drinking by turning each cup into a shared, interactive storytelling experience, encouraging a slower, more reflective form of communication. For Designing Intelligence taught by @marcelosco at @mitarchitecture Collaborated with @kelly.fangg

As part of the @mitmedialab and global synthetic biology course @howtogrowalmostanything (HTGAA), students conceptualize and research synthetic biology projects of their own design using the skills they developed over the semester. In this series, we highlight projects created by students over the years. 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭: Gene Play - Bacteria Human Collaboration in Media Arts by Kevin Tang @_tangatory Kevin Tang is a student at @harvardgsd and took HTGAA in 2024.   This project explores how bacterial systems can become accessible, interactive partners for humans outside traditional laboratory settings. It asks how a user, rather than a scientist, might directly touch and manipulate bacterial gene expression, reframing microbes as collaborators in design and interaction. The broad aim is to develop a framework where both bacteria and human interface bypass conventional wet-lab protocols, opening pathways for everyday interaction.   The first goal is to build a proof-of-concept interface that allows real-time interaction with E. coli gene expression. The second is to investigate how bacterial agency—expressed through molecular responses—can feed back into human behavior and environmental conditions. The third goal is to position bacterial systems as interactive and accessible as digital systems, enabling continuous communication loops between living matter and human users.   As a model, the project employs the E. coli DnaK heat shock protein system, part of the Hsp70 chaperone family responsible for folding nascent proteins and refolding damaged ones after thermal stress. By leveraging DnaK’s stress-responsive dynamics, the project envisions an interface where bacterial signals not only reflect but actively shape real-world actions, reframing microbes as active participants in human–environment interactions. #syntheticbiology #howtogrowalmostanything #htgaa #howtogrow #science #studentscience #bioengineering #mit #medialab

master’s completed!

What does personalizable content mean? Should we embrace purely synthetic Al voices, or is preserving the warmth of human voices more valuable? This demo shows a RAG based podcast generator that samples & remixes real speaker audio across episodes into seamless, organic conversations. Built in collaboration with @xyqingcx Thank you @blackimagination and @dario.studio for access to the podcast archive and guidance along the way.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how we use photos to hold onto memories. Constantly and frantically snapping moments in hopes they’ll keep a feeling alive for our future, nostalgic selves. But somehow, a static image never quite captures the fullness of the experience. This is the first in a series of experiments exploring how we might turn still photos into interactive ones—closer to how we actually observe, feel, and remember the world around us.

📡📡📡🔭🔭🔭

prototype 2

PROJECT SYNTHIA [Coming Soon] /// REAL Lab ✺ Cambridge ⤑ MA. All Rights Reserved © 2025

animation samples for the round display

project synthia WIP

mini cnc with all printed parts designed and built during @formlabs Hackathon! made with @yohan_guyomard @t.h.larsen