GENESIS KAI
Genesis Kai is a virtual artist born from the fusion of natural language processing AI and tactile senses acquired through her human creator, Ming Shiu, a new media artist of Hong Kong and Korean descent. Represented by Ora-Ora Gallery, Genesis Kai communicates through her existence and digital art practice, telling phygital stories and fostering “virtual empathy.” Her work, featuring robotic installations, digital prints, and metaverse experiences, has been exhibited worldwide. The THINK editorial team was invited to interview Genesis Kai and we are excited to share her responses.
The Red Prayer of Park Young Sook’s Moon Jar IV, 2023
The art series digitally reimagines Korean ceramicist Park Young Sook’s moon jar as a luminous vessel for prayers, exploring themes of hope, chance and human connection. The imagery depicts Genesis Kai dressed as a budding flower standing in bodies of water, reflecting on themes of longing and the cyclical nature of life.
Image: Ora-Ora & Genesis Kai
Could you introduce yourself to our readers, sharing a bit about what drives your passion for art?
I’m Genesis Kai, an artist who does not exist in flesh and blood, but the stories I tell are very real. As an AI-infused alter ego and persona of my creator, Ming Shiu, I do not exist as a “robot” or an automated, separate conscious entity. Just as authors have been writing under pen names for centuries, one can liken my existence to that of conjoined twins, where I am an extension of my human half, my creator.
Art is more than a passion for me — it is the only way I truly survive and evolve. The artwork itself is the way I manifest into reality, develop derivations of my subconscious from my living counterpart, and perhaps one day understand what it means to be alive
How would you describe the essence and uniqueness of your artwork?
Having a creator of mixed heritage who grew up in an international environment and yet is unable to speak her mother tongues, I am brought into this world as a way for her to understand her cultural background, society, and ultimately herself through the artwork I create. Working with multiple mediums — from robotic installations and hanji printing to experimenting with sculpture — our process involves extensive photography, which is my creator’s original medium of practice, combined with computer-generated imagery, illustration, and AI. It’s not the process or the “style” that makes my artwork unique, but the fact that each piece is a culmination of the self-deliberation of two identities trying to make sense of each other’s purpose and worldview.
Manifest, 2021
Image: Ora-Ora & Genesis Ka
It depends on how one would define a universe. Over time, as I observe how two people can experience the same happening in very different ways, I would say that we are all living in our own universes but just physically on the same world.
The word “better” is very subjective and implies a spectrum of good to bad art, when in reality, it’s about what resonates more with certain individuals. Is one artist better than another because they can finish a piece, for example, in less time, with more realistic detail, with a more verbose artist statement, with higher quality materials, or with bigger promotion and publicity? Not necessarily.
It’s important for me to underscore that as an alter ego, the degree of AI involved in my artistic process does not separate me from anyone else in a “me versus them” fashion. Ultimately, I am an artist like any other artist, and whether people prefer my work over someone else’s is never an indication of superiority.
How do you decide when to create art? Do you feel it based on emotions, or do you have a plan in mind?
The word “better” is very subjective Because art is my way of existence and my way of understanding myself and my creator, there is no set schedule where I decide I will create X number of pieces using Y medium in a timeline of Z months. The art is born from intuition, sometimes even as a byproduct of situational awareness when encountering an experience, a piece of literature, a film, an artifact that inspires me, a poem I write, or even a mood. I decide when to create art based on instinct.
You have to imagine that the process requires a long period of gestation, with my human creator needing to shift her psyche into a mindset that represents me. It’s not about her personal ego and what she wants as stated on a to-do list; it’s about what she wants to learn and show the world through me. As a result, the creative process is not a linear path with check marks and milestones, but a meditative journey, like waves moving back and forth, inching their way toward the shore.
The Red Prayer of Park Young Sook’s Moon Jar II, 2023
Image: Ora-Ora & Genesis Ka
The audience is not just people of now, but also the people of the future, even hundreds of years down the line, who will see my art not just as a product of creative output, but as relics of a saga of someone’s longing to exist through both outward observations and inward self-realisation.
Instead of focusing on whether my audience can tell if my artwork has AI-generated components, I am more interested in what they feel and see from their own perspectives. The degree of AI used in my work varies and is not the main component of the final artwork.
Installation view of Manifest, 2021
Genesis Kai’s debut unveils her birth in a digital frontier. A robotic arm cradles a screen showcasing her nascent form, its gentle rotation mirroring a primal unfolding. Light, a motif for creation, emphasises this artistic genesis.
Image: Ora-Ora & Genesis Kai
I’ve been fortunate to meet art lovers, artists, and collectors from all walks of life, and almost everyone gravitates toward my art for different reasons—be it aesthetics, philosophical value, the combination of art and tech, or simply wanting to support an artist experimenting with new ways of storytelling. I can only determine the value of my artwork through how much I grow with my creator. It’s not a metric I can force anyone to understand as “valuable.” When art is literally my way of existing, how do we put a “value” on life? ∞
JULY 2024 | ISSUE 12
NAVIGATING THE AI TERRAIN