Jiayi Chen

This project is an interactive robotic installation that expresses and critiques the distortion and reinterpretation of emotions by external emotional-mediating systems.

When emotions are expressed, they become information that can be interpretation and used. But often these interpretations are inaccurate, there is lots of intentional or unintentional misunderstanding, bias, and even exploitation. In this process, our emotions are distorted and redefined. Over-reliance on these interpretations affects our feelings of our real inner emotions.

The project collects audiences' physiological emotional data to identify their current emotional state. Based on this state, it mimics external systems' misinterpretation and distortion of emotions, generating a first-person emotional diary in the audiences' own voice through an AI-powered algorithmic system. The diary amplifies and focuses on the distorted reinterpretation of emotions by external systems. A swarm of robots, representing complex external factors, types the diary letter by letter onto a screen. This prompts audiences to pay attention to their own real inner emotions, compare them with the diary's content, and provokes deeper critical reflection.