Xinyi Liu

Xinyi Liu is a Chinese multimedia artist, currently studying at the Royal College of Art. He works on interdisciplinary design projects based on digital media.

With a background in Biotechnology Engineering, Xinyi's work tends to combine content from ecological science with important topics that are relevant to human life. In doing so, he finds similarities across scientific disciplines to give the viewer a novel sensory experience and leave the thinking to the viewer. The Ecological philosophy concept of symbiosis is now his main focus of research.

He believes that childhood is an important part of forming a whole person, and that what is potentially experienced will have a profound impact on people as they grow up. His exploration of the medium will therefore be based more on the childhood experiences of the current generation, and now he is delving into the study of the expressions of retro games.

Based on the Gaia hypothesis and the doctrine of symbiosis, we can recognise that life forms do not have to be divided as simply as they are in the encyclopaedia.

When the microbes within our living bodies have a huge impact on our bodies physically, psychologically and even genetically, can we think of ourselves as humans as mere carriers of countless tiny existences? When we see ourselves and other beings as part of the circulatory system that forms the Earth, can we again see the Earth as one giant being made up of multiple beings together?

It seems we both see other larger life system as Home and ourselves as Home to other tiny life system.

This is an exploration of de-anthropocentric ecological thinking. When we abandon the notion of the priority of human interests and go on to place the earth, animals and microbes all on an equal footing, then we can think about the laws of things and the fate of humanity. Will something change in our behaviour towards the environment, and towards our own bodies? Will our choices between human profits and environmental profits also change?

A retro experimental game is the main part of the project. The unconventional interface design and gameplay will pull the viewer into a world where the earth, animals and microorganisms are a trinity, to find their own way of treating the environment in the face of failure after failure.

The game is called Fever Home.