Xiyan Chen's Code Generates Organic Patterns in 'Eternal Genesis'

In the group exhibition 'Duality' at MA-EC Gallery in Milan, artist Xiyan Chen presents 'Eternal Genesis: Reversal of Duality 2.0', a video installation where code behaves like living matter. The work uses characters such as asterisks and ampersands that, over time, group, spread, and branch into structures resembling roots, coral, or cellular formations. Chen explores the recursive logic shared by biological and digital systems, arguing that code does not represent nature but reproduces its deep structure through similar rules of branching, proliferation, and collapse. The installation offers no interactivity; the system runs autonomously, indifferent to the viewer. Curated by Elisabetta Roncati with co-curator Yishun Gao, the exhibition ran from 3 to 14 February 2026. Chen's practice positions her at the digital frontier of contemporary art, questioning the boundary between natural and artificial.