PROJECT
The Wavy UtopiaWORK CATEGORY
3D AnimationPROJECT DETAILS
2023 Single-channel video, color, sound, 8’52”-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With AI becoming a big part of our daily digital experiences, there's a bit of a snag. The AI personalization, meant to give us tailored digital journeys, unintentionally boosts some not-so-great narcissistic behaviors and shrinks our range of perspectives. This shift is making our society more manageable for big tech companies, and we're kind of stuck in this loop of narrow meanings and passive living that we've just gotten used to.
I built a world called the wavy utopia having a question: what if our future looks like if personalization due to AI becomes severe and people become more dependent on AI and technology giants? The Wavy Utopia is like a dystopian society hooked on collective narcissism, where everything looks the same, and diversity takes a back seat.
Just like the society we live in right now, advertisements are everywhere in this story.
Now, people are getting super hooked on tech and AI, almost like it's a pseudo-religion. They’re easily believing in random information on social media without checking.
To play into this, I crafted a prayer. This prayer is all about believing in the “wave,” which means AI algorithm. And I turned it into an ad. Also, "ocean" represents people or areas that stay away from social media
and the wavy utopia where you don’t need to think critically. Instead, an algorithm makes choices for you.
The goal was to sort of brainwash people, convincing them that this wavy utopia is way better than their current reality.
Look up at the sky
Believe in the power of waves
Souls submerged in the ocean
The waves of the sky speak
The origin of life fused with waves
Receive the grace of the waves
Everything becomes a prophecy of the waves
Through the waves, We will gain enlightenment
Guide us through the maze of the ocean
In the waves, the sky will become the truth
You are the wave that guides us
Please come and take us to the sky
We are creatures of waves
The mystery of the waves behind the ocean
A wave of enlightenment heading towards the sky
Sentence rising from the abyss of waves
The moment the flows illuminate us
Souls trapped in the ocean will resurrect to the sky
We have become so dependent on AI personalization that we face a dystopian society hypnotized by collective narcissism where we all act the same, think the same, and reject those different from us. In this society, we cannot break away from the existing meaning system and fall into the narrow meanings that are continuously reproduced without thinking about the possibility of something new.
Now, I tried to capture this idea in the animation. Imagine people crawling instead of walking, almost like they've forgotten how to stand on two feet. It's a metaphor for how we've lost touch with the values of human rights and diversity, a bit like babies whose minds and thinking are not grown fully.
People try to walk only the path already determined by the wave. They don't have to choose or worry about where to go.
The main character sees her reflection in the water, just like Narcissus did. Her colorful and unique makeup was all removed. And the hair color is changed from white, which allows free expression of color and can be anything, to black, which absorbs anything and turns it into the same color as it is.
This whole idea of everyone being the same, losing diversity and freedom. People have lost their individuality, and all look the same, melting like candles. As they melt and flow, they become one single mass.
It's causing some significant problems. We're talking about random hatred popping up, human connections weakening, and social conflicts sparking left and right. We're missing out on diverse thoughts that fuel creativity, and it's even affecting our basic human needs.
In the omnipotent grasp of Wave, AI, every event unfolds. They observe, manage, and distort every circumstance.
Consequently, significant issues arise. Hatred emerges unexpectedly, human bonds fray, and social tensions ignite with alarming frequency. The richness of diverse perspectives, essential for fostering creativity, is dwindling. Moreover, fundamental human needs are being compromised.
