The Nonsensical AI Doctor: A Conversation with Ye Funa

by Clara Che Wei Peh

I first came across Ye Funa, the young and eclectic Chinese artist, when researching her site-specific installation, Beauty + Save the World (2018). The installation was presented at “Chinternet Ugly”, an exhibition held at Manchester’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art in 2019, exploring the pervasiveness of Internet culture in China — home to the world’s largest online community of more than 802 million users], and four of the world’s top ten Internet companies. Beauty + Save the World integrated selfie cameras and digital screens displaying real-time images against absurd and fantastical filters drawing from cyberpunk aesthetics. While designed as an in-person experience, the installation sought to fully immerse its audience into the virtual world of Meitu, an app where selfies taken are instantly edited according to algorithm-driven aesthetics of Internet beauty. In the exhibition, there was me — the person standing in the physical space of the gallery, and then there was me, the one captured and manipulated on the app, made downloadable and shareable on the screen.

Ye Funa, Beauty + Save the World, installation view at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, 2019. Image courtesy of the artist and Michael Pollard.

Founded in 2008, Meitu has been a revolutionary force in China’s social media culture and economy. Meitu’s mobile applications see a total of 295 million monthly active users, and “Meitu Xiuxiu” — which directly translates to beautifying the picture then showing it off — has been deeply integrated into the Chinese lexicon. Paired with the nation’s rapid growth of the medical beauty industry, apps like Meitu, which allow its users to change the shape of their face, add double eyelids and sharpen their noses all within a few clicks, have been reshaping the physical appearance of social media influencers and followers alike. Oftentimes, those who undergo plastic surgery even use Meitu to preview their selected procedures The omnipresence of Meitu’s instant “beautification” effects are seen across China’s online platforms and increasingly, in the permanently physically altered faces of people as well, blurring the boundaries between the Internet and real-life, and extending the influences of the virtual realm infinitely. Beauty + Save the World was a response to this changing reality...READ MORE

Cover Image:Ye Funa, Dr. Corona, 2020, screenshot from website.