Amsterdam-based Taiwanese artist Li Yi-Fan joins us for a screening of his recent machinima animations, uneasy explorations of what it means to be a digital human. The artist’s surreal avatars and uncanny environments produce an unsettling reflection on the nature of perception and the existential stakes of new digital-imaging technologies. Describing his creative process as a “death match” between artist and software, Li develops DIY imaging systems using game engines and real-time rendering technologies. His avatars enact a series of absurd scenarios to tease out—and resist—the increasing entanglement of the production of images and the production of the self.
For this screening, Li will present the video What Is Your Favorite Primitive (2023) and excerpts from Screen Melancholy (2026), as well as a demonstration of his production process, providing a glimpse behind the curtain of his trenchant, humorous work.
The screening will be followed by a conversation between the artist and Stuart Comer, MoMA’s Lonti Ebers Chief Curator of Media and Performance.
What Is Your Favorite Primitive. 2023. The Netherlands. Directed by Li Yi-Fan. 37 min.
Excerpts from Screen Melancholy. 2026. The Netherlands. Directed by Li Yi-Fan. 54 min.