Showcase

Pseudosynthesis

Leon Lin

Profile picture of Leon Lin
Fashion photographer, filmmaker, and researcher exploring the intersection of emotion, performance, and technology. My work investigates the dynamics of emotional expression between human and virtual performers, using motion capture to blur the boundaries of physical and digital presence. Through photography, film, and immersive media, I examine how movement, identity, and connection evolve in hybrid spaces.
Fashion photographer, filmmaker, and researcher exploring the intersection of emotion, performance, ...
This project investigates whether AI-generated performers can authentically replicate human emotional expression in dance and performance. Through interviews with dancers and motion-capture experiments, it identifies three stages of human emotion (raw, mechanical, controlled) and argues that AI is limited to mimicry due to its lack of consciousness, embodiment, and lived experience.

Drawing on Judith Butler’s theories, it contrasts human performativity (fluid, culturally embedded) with AI’s programmed rigidity. The work also explores queering digital avatars, critiques the commodification of bodies, and uses a 3D fashion film to visualize the human-machine divide.

Final work

Pseudosynthesis

Pseudosynthesis is a 3D fashion film exploring the boundary between human and AI-generated performance. Through abstract visuals, it contrasts organic movement (raw emotion, imperfection) with synthetic replication (precision, artifice).

The film culminates in a split-screen composition—human dancers left, AI avatars right—posing a question: Can technology ever truly embody feeling, or does it merely simulate what it cannot experience?

Warning: Contains flashing images
A still from my fashion film Pseudosynthesis

Pseudosynthesis composition

A still from my fashion film Pseudosynthesis

Pseudosynthesis still 1

A still from my fashion film Pseudosynthesis

Pseudosynthesis still 2

Research and process

Motion comparison for research

A comparison video of some of the motion captured footage with different levels of emotional expression followed by an AI generated motion sequence at the end.

Share this project

Pseudosynthesis

This project investigates whether AI-generated performers can authentically replicate human emotional expression in dance and performance. Through interviews with dancers and motion-capture experiments, it identifies three stages of human emotion (raw, mechanical, controlled) and...

A link to this page has been added to your clipboard

Browse related work