Labels On Self = Stereotypes Or Selves Reimagined? Leveraging AI to transcend labels.
Sentient Mirror
Participatory AI Art: Self-Portrait Generation
2023 / The Box, Freespace, Art Park, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world."
Sentient Mirror explores the power of social labeling and stereotyping through a participatory interactive art approach.
Labels and assumptions based on external factors like race, gender, age, and appearance shape how we understand and interact with one another. By collecting labels from audiences and generating visual interpretations through AI, this project targets to make these unseen social mechanisms visible and tangible.
Next, in the center installation, labels from the database are composited onto new audiences' self images. It creates opportunities for self-reflection, questioning of preconceived notions, and re-imagining of self and other.
This process can potentially cultivate empathy, disrupt stereotyping, and provide an opportunity for personal and social progress through heightened self and social awareness.
Three distinct stable diffusion models are used in the program to generate diverse representations that illustrate different aspects of identities.
The "cyberpunk" model produces futuristic imagery that highlights the evolving, technology-mediated nature of self; the "mythology" model reveals timeless facets through ancient archetypes; and composites from mixed datasets uncover complexity and multiplicity.
These varied AI visions aim to stimulate divergent forms of self-reflection and reimagining that challenge narrow conceptions of identity.
cyberpunk model
mythology model
mixed models
Client
Ivana Music Limited
Starring
Ivana Wong
Roles In This Project
Design Director — Interaction Design & Development
Teammates
Creative Director Chris Cheung
Technical Director Jeff Wong
Project Manager Daisy Lee
Set Production Jeff Wong, Wai Choy, Jason Chan
Developer Jason Chan, Tiffany Lau
Designer Sandy Chan
AI Support Cody Chow
Project Asistant Nora Ho