Emotion, Intersection, Past & Presence, AI, Interactive installation
"In Between" is a user-based interactive media installation that explores how emotions intersect and transform across time. Instead of remaining as static traces in space, past emotions resurface, intertwining with the present, shaping and being reshaped in a dynamic temporal exchange.
This project is inspired by the Korean saying "옷깃만 스쳐도 인연이다" ("Even the briefest meeting, like touching sleeves, is predestined."), emphasizing that even fleeting encounters leave lasting emotional imprints, forming unseen yet significant connections across time.
At the start, the user's emotional state is recorded and visualized through color. By turning a timer, they reawaken the presence of a past user-not as a passive memory, but as an active emotional entity that interacts with the present. When past and present emotions intersect, they do not merely coexist; they merge, evolve, and generate new emotional dimensions. Colors shift, sounds emerge, and an ephemeral yet deeply connected emotional experience unfolds in real-time.
This work reflects on the fluidity of presence and absence, the convergence of memory and experience, and the nonlinear evolution of emotions-revealing how emotional connections extend beyond individual moments, continuously transforming through time.
Joann Lee (KR) is a user-based interactive media artist with a background in painting, working between Austria and South Korea. Her artwork explores human identity, emotion, and relationships by transforming quantifiable user data into unquantifiable artistic experiences while engaging with technology and art. She is currently pursuing an MA in Interface Culture at the University of Arts Linz and has participated in various exhibitions, including Ars Electronica Festival every year since 2020.
The work In Between will be shown as part of IC @ Ars Electronica 2025, exhibited at PostCity, Bahnhofplatz 12.
