EMI
Ethel Lilienfied
Video
In recent years, a new type of influencer has been gaining ground: the virtual influencer. Pretty and smooth, these avatars created from scratch each have a story to tell, sharing their tastes, passions and vision with their community through a transmedia narrative. They promise to stay young and fashionable forever, and to never have any reputational problems. Like physical influencers, these digital beings promote brands and products to their followers. And as they are also available at all times, who better than them to prosper in the new and growing virtual market?
Embodying the concept of beauty and perfection, EMI is a much loved virtual influencer until the day doubt creeps in. What if the trend was to look less and less like a human being?
Using CGI, AI image generators, a programme created to automate video processing, as well as traditional techniques such as live shots and FX make-up, EMI explores different processes in an atmosphere of viral vlogs and colourful selfies.
EMI is a hybrid project that includes a short film and a web page with NFTs.
Artists
Ethel Lilienfied
Born in France in 1995 and based in Brussels, Ethel Lilienfeld’s work examines the growing impact of the virtual body on reality and everyday life. She creates uncanny images that exacerbate the tension between fantasy and madness. Ethel Lilienfeld’s work explores issues of social norms, aesthetic standards and concepts of identity and gender.
The body plays an important role in most of the artist’s proposals. Although she uses photography, video installation and film, her works are nonetheless related to sculpture, and the relationship with space is crucial in her oeuvre. In her videos, Ethel Lilienfeld works with actors, sets and objects, sometimes drawing on fiction, sometimes on reality.
After completing a master’s degree in visual arts at La Cambre (Brussels) in 2020, Ethel Lilienfeld obtained a post-graduate degree at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in 2023. She has won a number of awards including the Villa Albertine Grant / Étant Donnés Contemporary Art (2023).
Ethel’s work has been presented at such venues as the FotoFest Biennial (Houston, US); MEET – Digital Culture Centre (Milan, IT); Alan Kadıköy _ Noise Media Art (Istanbul, TR); IMAL Centre for digital cultures and technology (Brussels, BE); Opéra de Lille (Lil- le, FR); Les Safra’Numériques (Amiens, FR); Le Cube (Garges, FR); etc.
Credits & mentions
Produced by Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains in co-production with La Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles
