Lane Shi | Otay:onii
Troubadour / Sound
Installation Performer

• Concept

As philosopher Frederick Jackson writes in An Aesthetic of Cognitive Mapping, “under late capitalism, we have lost our ability to locate and or orient ourselves historically and socially”. The dilemma we are pacing back and forth - the evolution of technological tools and platforms such as social media, AI and the exploitation of our personnel data and behavior - is indeed a psychological one. But we always have the potential to explore the dark side of the moon, don’t we? Perhaps there is a bolder concept, partially outdated but still relevant and in need of new directions for experiments from us all: the tools that are against us could be an advantage we use to simulate against.

Since the internet feeds us with information so directional and invasive, why don’t we feed them back with our equally powerful intentions? Through times baffling with insecurity and uncertainty interacting with the cyber construction, we find ourselves the strongest in solidarity while we inherit an understanding of our own intentions. With the spirit in the book The Secret of Golden Flower, a translation of the textbook originally written by Lü Dong Bing, the work Who’s Not Broken? will acknowledge the psychological warfare we are participating in the cyber influx, and present the role of intention and neuron synchronicity in net chain society via a form of various interactive devices, installations and sound simulators. It will take a stand to look at this fear and the problems rooted in uncertainty and insecurities nowadays in an alternative way, practicing my meaning of art: to solve a puzzle with another puzzle that cannot be touched or seen, but rather felt.

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"Honest Intention is the missing ingredient to cook the soup of reincarnation"

This interactive installation emphasizes the awareness of honesty and intention within the developments of media platforms, technologies and their massive circulation of information that we tend to find ourselves either lost in or rejected by.

In the installation there are hosts, abandoned dolls I adopted, who mirror those of us with concerns, fears, and latency when catching up with the influx of media information, AI, and cyber inventions due to inequality of access and lack of education and skills. From the ceiling in the center of the installation, wires drape to a hand on the floor, which has a switch in its palm. By pressing the switch one activates electronic ears in the dolls’ hearts. The hand is a portal and invitation for the audience to have an intimate conversation with the dolls. When the audience speaks, the heart will respond, and blink synchronously. The heart blink is a visual presentation of how intention reflects back to us while diving in the ocean of online data and cyber synapses. Conversations underline an ontological communication of admittance and honesty between the audience and dolls, in which naivety is accented the materialistic  pursue is minimized,  together forming an  alternative attitude and towards the capitalistic and consuming spectra of potential data manipulation. Along with the hand, there is a box with a button for those who are willing to record their conversations. The layering of all the conversations by audience members will be subsequently be synthesized into a musical composition, entwining online algorithm processes with our thoughts and participation. {Who's Not Broken} creates an environment where we can practice a simulation of honesty and intention, calling for self-strength during times when uncertainty and insecurities from political conflicts and hidden context are the norm.