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For our second episode of Columbia DSL’s Sandbox, we sit down with Ani Liu, a research-based artist working at the intersection of art & science.

From Ani’s site: Her work examines the reciprocal relationships between science, technology and their influence on human subjectivity, culture, and identity.

Ani’s work has been presented internationally, and featured on National Geographic, VICE, Mashable, Gizmodo, TED, Core77, PCMag, FOX and WIRED. Her work has been shown at Ars Electronica, the Queens Museum Biennial, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asian Art Museum, MIT Museum, MIT Media Lab, Mana Contemporary, Harvard University, and Shenzhen Design Society.

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Laboratory of Longings — Ani Liu

Ani’s Artist Statement

The subjectivities of humans have long been influenced by scientific and technological breakthroughs. Subjective and objective realities rarely sit in a vacuum apart from each other- some scientific revolutions, such as those of Darwin and Copernicus had religious implications. Other breakthroughs, such as that of synthetic biology and artificial intelligence raise philosophical and existential questions on what life is. With every technology and scientific development, our plastic subjectivity goes through modifications and expansions.

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As an artist, I live in this plasticity, exploring the impact of technology on culture and identity. Imbuing scientific processes with storytelling, narrative, and emotional expression, my work explores themes of the subconscious, longing, nostalgia, and memory — exploring in this technologically mediated age, what does it mean to be human?