Projects
I & AI: Co-Authoring Identity in the Mirror Realm
I & AI: Co-Authoring Identity in the Mirror Realm
An immersive experience about human-AI intimacy where the audiences interact with a generative mirror-self and rethink the way human and AI observe, reflect and shape each other.
After decades of AI cycles—hype, collapse, resurgence—we find ourselves in a new emotional terrain: not one of domination or replacement, but of resonance. I & AI: Mirror (Co-Authoring Identity in the Mirror Realm) is an interactive mirror-world where audiences and AI observe, reflect, and shape one another.
Set within a softly responsive, ambient environment, audiences move through three experiential phases: interaction, interpretation, and intimacy. The AI does not simply display data—it listens, learns, and gradually reveals how it perceives human presence. As interactions accumulate, participants’ inputs are transformed into co-authored outputs. By integrating immersive technologies with AI—such as motion capture, generative AI, augmented reality, and spatial augmented reality—the work transforms audiences’ input into real-time, dynamic mosaics of identity.
The AI becomes more “I-like” (I-dentity), while the human becomes entangled in the AI-dentity. By softening traditional techno-aesthetics and foregrounding emotion, transparency, and co-creation, I & AI: Mirror invites co-reflection—rethinking identity as something constructed in tandem with intelligent systems. Throughout the exhibition, audiences’ input becomes part of a shared memory network. These traces are visualised and interpreted in a scheduled live performance, at 6PM on 24th October, where human performers collaborate with the AI in real time to embody this growing relational “I”dentity and “AI”dentity. Through this installation and the accompanying performance, AI’s process is made transparent and explainable—not hidden behind opaque systems but revealed through dynamic visuals and emotional cues that invite audiences into its learning logic.
Experiment
£20,000
" AI can be seen as collaborator, predator; mentor, manipulator; listener, snitch; lover, rebound partner... But before AI becomes anything, I already gave AI an “AI”dentity, and what if we co-author “I”dentity and “AI”dentity?
Credit
This project is led by Jiarong Yu, and developed through Co-STEAM, an experimental platform founded by Jiarong to explore human–human–AI co-creativity and transdisciplinary embodied learning across Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM).
Supported by Immersive Arts UK, Cryptic, the UKRI Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, Co-STEAM, the Institute for Design Informatics, and Inspace, the first prototype presentation of this project as a pop-up exhibition and performance took place at Inspace, Edinburgh in 2025.
Exhibition
Time: 24th October 2025- 26th October 2025, 10:00-17:00
Venue: Inspace Gallery, 1 Crichton St, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Live Performance:
24th October 2025, 18:00-20:30
Venue: Inspace Gallery, 1 Crichton St, Edinburgh EH8 9AB
Photos: I & AI: Mirror (2025), Performance and Phy-gital Spatial immersive installation by Jiarong Yu, Presented at Inspace, Edinburgh, Photos by Chris Scott.
Aims of the Project
‘I & AI: Co-Authoring Identity in the Mirror Realm’ explores how immersive technologies can redefine human-AI collaboration, identity, and social embodiment.
With the support of Immersive Arts UK, this project pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling, blending motion tracking, generative AI, augmented reality (AR), and 3D projection to create an experience where human and AI co-author evolving identities.
By aligning immersive storytelling with Human-AI collaboration, ‘I & AI’ transformed the familiar act of looking into a mirror into a speculative and participatory experience, challenging audiences to reconsider who—or what—is shaping their identity in the age of AI.
This funding enabled:
Experimentation:
Expanding artistic practice through immersive technologies, integrating AI as a collaborator rather than a tool.
Real-Time Interaction & Explainability:
Developing responsive AI-driven installations where audiences actively shape evolving digital reflections while also making AI’s interpretive processes visible and accessible.
Embodied & Collective Creation:
Investigating how individual and collective identity shifts through embodied interactions with AI, to make immersive storytelling more dynamic and participatory.
Sustainability & Accessibility:
Designing an installation that is both technically and ethically mindful, ensuring immersive experiences remain inclusive, thought-provoking, and impactful.
Expansion & Public Engagement:
Showcasing the work in UK-based exhibitions and beyond, contributing to wider conversations on AI, trust, and self-representation in the digital era.
Meet the artist
Jiarong Yu
Lead artist
she/her
Jiarong Yu is a multimedia tech-artist, interaction designer, and doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in creating immersive and participatory experiences at the intersection of technology and humanity.
Under the alias 6Liè, she merges data sonification, data visualisation, robotic haptic artefacts, extended reality, and interactive installations to craft dynamic, embodied experiences. Her work challenges the boundaries between STEM and the Arts, Human-AI collaboration, Human-Computer Interaction and multimodal storytelling.
Through projects spanning audio-visual performance, 3D animation, video games, and interactive installations, she invites us to reimagine our identity in the tech era.
