About

Artist Statement

An exploration and critique of how emerging technologies impact our interpretation of who we are as humans – as specific as our bodies and identities, and as grand as our social systems – lies at the center of my artistic explorations. How do technological systems reinforce or challenge existing power structures? What happens when AI is able to understand and recreate human qualities? How might our relationship with technology transform our future existence? Through my work, I investigate these questions at the intersection of social justice, advancing technologies, and speculative futures.

One of the key issues that my work explores is at the junction of technology and social justice, primarily gender inequalities, and how technology is perpetuating the imbalanced power dynamics between women and the state, within the context of China. Through participatory kinetic installations, I invite audiences to physically engage with tasks that embody the hidden social dynamics under the state’s techno-economic structures, making abstract power dynamics tangible through direct experiences.

Besides social systems, I’m also interested in how various technological systems manipulate human experiences. This part of my work stems from my experiments and observations of emerging technologies, primarily generative AI, and how our daily interactions with these technologies imply broader understanding of what defines us humans. From vacuum-formed reliefs, to virtual exhibition, and interactive websites, I try to translate the often hidden technical structures of AI into visuals, and then investigate how these algorithmically constructed systems perceive the very qualities that we humans define ourselves, such as our bodies and creativity, differently.

In addition, I’m also interested in speculating about our future with the evolving technologies: will we form a symbiotic state with the technologies to better adapt to the transforming environment? Or will we indulge in and abandon ourselves in the sweetness of advanced technologies? Relevant works invite the audience to speculative narratives through wearables and videos, prompting them to think critically about how technologies are and might transform our bodies and identities, both physically and spiritually.

Investigating these multifaceted human-technology relationships demands versatile technical and conceptual approaches. While primarily focused on creative coding and physical computing, I strategically employ various mediums based on conceptual needs. My artistic process begins with identifying pressing social or technological issues, from the social injustice that I experience myself or observed closely, the social news that I feel strongly connected to, and my engagement with certain technology. I then conduct intensive research into historical, cultural, technical, and artistic contexts of the theme. The research informs both my theoretical framework and technical implementation, ensuring my choice of medium serves the work’s conceptual aims.

Through my practice, I strive to reveal the hidden mechanisms through which social and technological systems interact and influence our lives. In my upcoming exploration, I hope to investigate how the feminization of AI assistants and robotic systems reflects and perpetuates traditional expectations of women’s labor and care work, exploring possibilities for AI systems that transform rather than reinforce our current biased perception of gender roles.