Bio
Li Yao is an artist, creative technologist, and educator living between New York and Chicago. Born in China and educated in the US, Li navigates between diverse geopolitical landscapes, observing the ideological diversity that grounds our realities. Currently, Li dedicates his studio practice to creating virtual environments through modeling software, game engines, and telecommunication applications. Over the years, Li’s work has gone through many changes in both medium and subject matter. What stays true throughout his transformation is a persistent interest in using technology to exorcise familial curses, to recuperate from phobias, and to examine the social conditions from which such curses and phobias arise.

Li has exhibited in various online and offline venues including TingDAO, Altered Festival, The Wrong Biennale, Ars Electronica, and Mykonos Multimedia Festival. He was invited to present his work at SIGGRAPH Asia 2021, and interviewed by the Chicago Reader. Li has designed and taught several virtual reality design curricula in various organizations including the University of Chicago and OF Course Shanghai. He received his MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018, and his BFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2016.



Search work by categories: 
Digital Art & Animation  Generative Art Installations & Sculptures Graphic Design  Video


Highlights

Bathroom Study (2022)
3d environmental study of a bathroom that gave me much nerve.
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Tea Room Study (2022)
3d environmental study of control and servitude facilitated in Japanese tea room layout.
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Water Flows Through My Closet (2021 - 2022)
Ai-generative image and text. This project explore what Ai had learnt about bathroom experience.
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Commiserate Chicago ( 2019 - 2020 ) :
New media art festival
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Bunker ( 2016 - 2018 ) :
VR installation. Conceived during the escalating tension of China-US diplomacy, this project seeks to reflect the curse of our time.
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My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
( 2016 )
:
Time-based installation on familial obligation
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Red Oil Wontons ( 2015 ) :
Serial glitch prints and installation on food and lingual translationNow broadcasted daily on @dailywontons 
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Warden/ Prisoner ( 2015 ) :
Video installation and architectural study on toilets
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Digital Collages series ( 2015 ):
Digital collages made on iPhone
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