10 Questions with Keyi Liu

Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine ISSUE15 | Featured Artist

China-born, London-based Keyi Liu is a Multimedia artist and Illustrator. She holds a BFA Honors degree in fine arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a Design for Performance & Interaction MArch degree from University College London. Keyi's practice spans interactive installation, 3D animation, illustration, etc. Her works focus on creating creatures and fantasy worlds and depicting the relationship between social development and people's inner states through complex narratives.

keyiliu-art.cargo.site | @edekiow

ARTIST STATEMENT

Keyi's works often take the confrontational relationship between human nature and societal rules as a starting point, analyzing the changes in human psychology under the oppression of various societal issues. She presents her understanding of such issues in a visual form for the audience. She usually creates works set in a futuristic backdrop, inventing fantastical creatures and even constructing new worldviews and orders. The purpose is to map existing real-world problems onto a seemingly absurd world system. The forms of her works include 3D animation, illustrations, VR/AR, interactive installations, etc., aiming to provide the audience with an immersive experience.

The Last Dream | Project Statement

The Last Dream series is a collection of illustrations I created during the 2021 pandemic, exploring my reflections on constraints and freedom. "Magic Mirror" is one of the illustrations in this series. At that time, I primarily spent my daily life in my studio in New York. The limitations of movement and space inspired me to construct a world through my imagination. In this fantasy realm, the colored glass transforms into dragons, a lonely mermaid awaits an illusionary flower rain, and a blue-haired girl is trapped in a mysterious cosmic ritual. Within this entire fantasy world, the concepts of time and space are broken. The world's order is reconstructed, liberating all creatures from the limitations of rules. Instead, they enter a system of existence characterized by randomness and freedom, symbolizing a longing for freedom inherent in biological nature.

AL-TIBA9 ART MAGAZINE ORIGINAL ISSUE15

INTERVIEW

Please introduce yourself to our readers. Who is Keyi Liu, and how would you describe yourself in three words? 

My name is Keyi Liu, and I am an illustrator and multimedia artist who graduated from the School of Visual Arts and University College London. I'm currently based in London. If I use three words to describe myself, I would say Fantasy, Romantic and Contradictory.

Do you remember when you first realized you wanted to be an artist? And has anything changed in your mind since then?

Since I was young, my dream is to be an artist. I dreamt every day, and when I woke up, I could vividly remember everything that happened in my dreams. Compared to reality, the world in my dreams looks twisted and chaotic. This is probably where my art creation began. I believe the world is multidimensional. Humans and fantastical creatures coexist, which leads me to fantasize about it. Another factor that influenced me was the education system I experienced. The education system before college was rigorous and oppressive. Schools required students to have the same hairstyle, wear the same clothes, etc. When everyone stood together, you couldn't tell them apart because they all looked the same.
This experience has also changed my perspective on artistic creation. Before this, I thought artistic creation was simply about depicting scenes from my imagination. However, afterward, I realized that art is a metaphorical language that can express my attitudes toward society and life. This made me even more determined to become an artist. Then, I began to put my emotions and thoughts about life and culture into my artwork, which set the form for the inspiration I would find in my subsequent creations.

Your educational background spans both the United States and the United Kingdom, with degrees from the School of Visual Arts in New York and University College London. How have these diverse academic experiences influenced your artistic practice?

My study experiences at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) and University College London (UCL) were very different. At SVA, my major is illustration, under the Department of Fine Art. The courses were diverse and exciting, and SVA offered students different opportunities to explore creative mediums. Instructors there don't define right or wrong but give students the freedom to express themselves. If studying at SVA pioneered my artistic style and mindset, my studies at UCL further developed and refined these ideas to be more logical. At UCL, my major is Design for Performance and Interaction. This program focuses on research skills, thus training my critical thinking. I also explored various technological creative areas at UCL, such as mechanical structures, interactive installations, and coding. Living and studying in these two countries provided me with experiences that helped me become a better artist and influenced my personality. Through this journey, I've embraced the diverse possibilities in my life and art creation. It has been an immensely beneficial experience for me.

Your work encompasses interactive installation, 3D animation, illustration, and more. What draws you to such diverse mediums, and how do you decide which medium best communicates your artistic vision for a particular project?

Each art form has unique power, so I enjoy exploring different mediums. Through continuous exploration, I can find a balance between mediums and eventually develop my artistic language. I am someone who enjoys trying different things. Only by experimenting with various mediums can I accurately determine the most suitable way of expression for different contexts or which artistic form suits me best. My choice of medium depends on the thoughts I express in various projects. Firstly, my primary form of expression focuses on visuals. Visual imagery strongly impacts and can lead to the viewer's emotions. Then, I consider whether the project needs to incorporate an interactive part. Not every proposition requires a complex interactive process to support it. My belief has always been to design what is necessary rather than create complex forms.

In your works, you often focus on "creating creatures, and fantasy worlds and depicting the relationship between social development and people's inner states through complex narratives," as you mention in your biography. Can you discuss how you approach the construction of these fantastical worlds and the creatures within them?

The development of any social form cannot completely detach from its current environment. Therefore, when creating the appearance of these creatures and the environmental space, I will incorporate realistic factors existing in society to conceptualize; then, I will combine my imagination with research on specific issues and social phenomena I want to discuss and integrate these two aspects into the design.

In your artist statement, you mention the controversial relationship between human nature and societal rules as a recurring theme in your work. How do you translate this theme into visual narratives, and what insights do you hope viewers gain from your explorations?

I will articulate this concept according to different forms of expression. For example, in the interactive installation "Forbidden Cage" that I designed in 2022, I used the imagery of spiders and cages to represent societal rules and installed ultrasonic sensors inside. The audience, representing free will, was included as part of this project. When the audience approached the spider, its limbs would wriggle frantically, imitating its hunting movements. At the same time, the cage above the spider would also open as if attempting to catch the audience and trap them into the rules and restrictions.
In this project, I visualized rules and restrictions in animal forms, drawing inspiration from observing the behaviour of spiders in real life. They are like social rules, hiding in corners, waiting for their prey to drop themselves into their web. When prey comes into their sight, they catch them tightly in their webs, trapping them until they cannot escape anymore. Social rules often operate similarly, exerting influence in subtle ways until people find themselves deeply entangled within them. As an interactive project, the narrative of this project is formed jointly by the audience and the installation.
In Heavenly, I also explored this idea by creating a virtual space set in the future and visualizing this confrontation as a 3D narrative animation. I think this confrontational relationship is an interesting topic because although they have a fundamental logic, they are not the same under different social contexts. This is why I keep exploring this topic.

The Last Dream series, created during the 2021 pandemic, explores reflections on constraints and freedom. How did the limitations of movement and space during the pandemic influence the creation of this series, and what messages or emotions do you hope to convey through it?

During this period, people faced different levels of rules that they had to obey. At that time, I almost stayed in the studio in New York daily. There was a noticeable decrease in street pedestrians, and people protested the mask issue. This made me think about the contentious relationship between social rules and human freedom. We cannot avoid the limitations brought by regulations if we are in environments formed by specific groups. This is also why I created the 'The Last Dream' Series. The limitations of movement and space allow me to construct the world of freedom only through imagination.
In this fantasy realm, colored glass transforms into dragons, a lonely mermaid awaits an illusionary flower rain, and a blue-haired girl is trapped in a mysterious cosmic ritual. The concepts of time and space are broken within this fantasy world. The world's order is reconstructed, liberating all creatures from the limitations of rules. Instead, they enter a system of existence characterized by randomness and freedom. Here, nothing is mandatory or definite; the entire ecosystem is in a state of neutrality with infinite possibilities, symbolizing the innate desire for freedom within the essence of life.
The Last Dream series is a temporary escape from the real world I created during the pandemic. Although we know that we should fight for freedom and against excessive rules and restrictions, in a social context, sometimes, we have to be influenced by social factors that are not entirely determined by our will.

On the contrary, Heavenly is an interactive experience that combines three-dimensional narrative films and Virtual Reality (VR). Can you discuss the inspiration behind this project? How do you see this project contributing to discussions about the intersection of technology, spirituality, and ethics in the digital age?

I've set up a very interesting background story for HEAVENLY. The story is set in the future, depicting human society in 2084. The rapid development of technology has allowed people to transfer their lives and entertainment to the virtual space. At the same time, virtual worship became popular to heal the trauma caused by real society, but this new form of worship also brought potential dangers. In the same year, a digital immortality company was established, and an out-of-body community called Heavenly was launched. Heavenly describes itself as a utopia, condemning physical bodies as evil and limiting people's ability to experience the pain brought by society. Residents who want to live in the HEAVENLY community must show their loyalty by participating in a sacrifice ritual and sacrificing their physical bodies to the Three-eyes God (the one in charge in the HEAVENLY community, which has infinite power because it has no limitations of the physical body). However, people do not know that Heavenly is just a scam created by the digital immortality company. By giving up their physical bodies to become data in the virtual world, people also give up the right to make their own decisions and eventually become slaves trapped in this endless darkness.
This project is inspired by the increasingly popular "consciousness uploading" topic. We often see this form of existence discussed in movies and literature. By uploading their consciousness into the virtual world, humans can break away from the physical body's limitations and gain "immortality power." Many idealize this form of life, believing that the virtual world of immortality can make up for the regrets of real life but ignoring its potential dangers. However, as long as society exists, regardless of its form, it will have limitations. The transformation of social forms cannot eliminate dilemmas but only transform them into another form of existence. In this project, I also discuss the superpower. In an era of rapid technological development, digital immortality seems to be another superpower, giving people unlimited imagination.
The viewer can experience a virtual sacrifice through this program and enter the digital immortality world. Throughout the experience, the program analyzes the viewer's appearance information, generating their virtual avatar. Then, the viewers will put on the VR equipment to enter the virtual sacrificial room. The viewers will complete a series of gesture interactions, making them feel separated from their physical bodies to become out-of-body cyborgs. At the end of the project, viewers who have completed the interaction will enter the digital immortality world they have been waiting for, but this world will not be as perfect as they imagined. The audience can discover the potential danger of the world of immortality, transcending the concept of time through the scenes and characters in the world
This project aims to remind individuals about the potential dangers of engaging in unknown digital rituals and the importance of maintaining a balance between the spiritual and physical in the digital age. I hope that through this project, the audience will realize that we don't need to idealize any social form and that we should maintain a critical way of thinking.

In recent times, we have witnessed a growing influence of technologies such as VR and AI, not only in our lives but also about artistic practice. How do you see these technologies evolving in the future? Do you feel threatened as an artist by them or do you see them as an opportunity?

When a new era arrives, all we can do is learn to live with it. We cannot stop the development of technology, but we do not have to be afraid of it either. Every era has its opportunities and experiences. Art creation can never be disconnected from the current social context. VR and AI have become one of the most popular topics nowadays. As artists, we should actively engage with these new concepts and technologies and integrate the characteristics of this era into our artistic creations.
Media and technology are part of artistic creation but not the key elements that can replace the entire industry. The critical point of art creation is the artist's thought, expression, and creative ability. Artists should consider integrating these new technologies rather than simply following the trend. Therefore, whether it's traditional painting, sculpture, or virtual reality, AI can be a way for artists to express their ideas.
In conclusion, the rapid development of technologies such as AI and VR is an unstoppable fact. For artists, this is neither a threat nor an opportunity but a change in the social context that everyone in every industry needs to face as society evolves.

Lastly, speaking of new technologies, is there anything else you would like to experiment with? Do you have any new series or projects you would like to tell our readers about?

I've been interested in making interactive installations since I graduated. Since most of my works are presented as print or screen, ranging from illustrations to generative arts to 3D animations, I've realized the importance of 'narrativity' and 'environmental space' throughout their creation process. This got me thinking about interactive installations. During my graduate studies, I explored how to establish environmental spaces and the interactions between the audience and artworks within a particular space.
At this stage, I'm making this an essential point in my artistic exploration. I plan to build interactive installations based on visual design to create a narrative space and provide a multi-sensory interactive experience for audiences.