Tongzhou Yu

This project is a transmedia immersive theatre production that presents a story of murder that explores new forms of prejudice in a world of sentient AI. The project uses the figure of the Yokai, which is a mythical being found in Chinese and Japanese culture that can be thought of as a mischievous apparition.

I'm tired of abstract problems about artificial intelligence, the uncanny valley, virtual life, digital identities and so on during this continuous reality-virtuality sliding period. My work throws out a simple question: What’s the reason and truth of the murder on the YokAI Line?

Through the whole immersive collage project, the possibilities of CGI and MR is tested and a sci-fi world built up, revealing the discrimination artificial intelligence feels. The question about the relationship between organic life and inorganic life is going to be branded within the audience, who will shape a new role for themselves as trans-human. Finally, a new cultural mythology of artificial intelligence is going to be explored.