Xi Li李曦, ↪︎I↩︎ (Within Web of Mask), 2023

↪︎I↩︎ (Within Web of Mask) employs first-person 360-degree panoramic videos as a medium and method of practice, proposing that the “self” is a fictitious concept and exploring how it profoundly influences our illusions and ideologies. By presenting three VR scenes constructed based on the web, characters, symbols, and digital sculptures, the artwork delves into the intersections of self-fictionality, trauma in identity perception, and phenomenology in digital narrative. These scenes incorporate the artist’s own body digital scans, virtual self-portraits, and colossal avatar, reflecting the digitization and concept of a fictitious self. Simultaneously, it articulates the complexity of the unconscious realm’s self-structure and the fractures in perception, aiming to constitute possibilities for critique in simulation and identity.