Yuntong (Hazel) Dai | Lionfish: An interactive video essay

 
LIONFISH is essentially a video essay developed based on a private conversation. The core concept of this project is around the sociological terminology raised by Erving Goffman in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. “People act/behave differently in front of different people.” This seemingly self-evident idea is the origin of my confusion when interacting with others. LIONFISH aims to show the process of identifying the “true self.” Meanwhile, the text/poem merged in the video tells a fictional story of a person looking for their lost phone that keeps a record of who they are. Moreover, the face detection interaction will appear at certain points of the video: sometimes overlapping with people starring in the prepared video, and an illusion of “watching” and “being watched” is delivered to the viewers as they become part of the project itself at those moments. The three parallel yet intertwined elements in the piece altogether create a special immersive experience for the spectators as various things are going on simultaneously, and they get to reflect on the seemingly ordinary fact of “existing.” Also, they will “get caught” off guard as they pay close attention to the project itself: they “forget about themselves” while they become aware of themselves the most.
Additionally, as a video installation, a relatively closed and dark space is created to make the whole experience intimate and private, mimicking the moments when people deeply think about the meaning of being themselves. Reflective materials and mirrors are used in the installation for a dreamy and surreal feeling. When people enter a space full of their reflections and images, they are naturally attracted to themselves. However, when they suddenly realize that they are the center of attention, things will be much more different.
LIONFISH is a project discussing a dualistic, or actually more complex, question. Humans are self-aware, we care about what we say and do in public, yet do we really know who we are? Are the thousands of faces we present fake? Which one is our most natural appearance?