Jacenia LiProjects



Some Scattered ScansTools:
Printer, iPhone Notes, Adobe Lightroom

mini elephant plushie pressed against the scanner
 polaroid of a cherry tree and an empty diary
fruits! (?)
hairband with a slightly burned paper
me on expired photo paper and nature scenes drawn with crayons 
arcade game cards
sticker book 
sticker book (kitty and friends)
sticker book (dressing up)
many polka dots
beading hearts and an apple
letters from friends





Story of the Fragmented

A digital archive of overlooked objects and their accompanied moments. 

There are some things that we can’t grasp. It slips away from our hands. We pass through places every day where we never stay for long. We overlook the subtle details, the quiet moments that could tell a story if only we paused to notice.

But parts are still remaining. By capturing images that fills the gap of the unseen or neglected, I am attempting to piece puzzles from daily encounters together, to preserve disappearance and its residue.

It is the story of the fragmented.
shot with Konica Autorex
printed on RC paper and scanned

Tools: 
Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign, TouchDesigner, P5js




Images Overview


lonely chair
chaotic balance
digital bed
moon light
only strangers
bubbly blossoms
where is your destination?
egg-splode
peek-a-boo
portals
scene missing
dusty corner
in the cave
messy mind
fallen angels
to enter
live in the dark
on finding love
cracked
parallel world
concrete jungle
after afterparty
delusional world of the psychotic


Rippling Fragments in Video created with touchDesigner

Real-time Fragments on P5.js (click any point on webpage to save)



Empty Playground






Portrait of a Decaying NeighborhoodThis series is intended to capture the traces of time on a nearby neighborhood, originally with old town houses, that became confiscated. Walking by it, I see the changes from doors locked, walls peeled, lights turned off, and everything left there not being touched. Almost only ruins are left.

I took the approach in a more abstract and discrete form, photographing mostly the dusty walls and corners. As I press the shutter button, I tried to keep the neighborhood as a souvenir and a lens to the past.
Tools:
Canon EOS 6D Mark II  (50mm lens), Adobe Lightroom





Keys to the PastThis series is inspired by a set of keys from previous rooms in my home. While the keys remain, the locks have long since vanished, leaving only fragments of the whole. By intertwining objects — an abandoned door and these old keys — I assembled a new portal to the past. The spotlights on the keys acts as a guiding light, leading to another place and time.

Tools:
Canon EOS 6D  (24-105mm lens), Adobe Lightroom





Elsewhere, Meanwhile
Captured through open source live surveillance cameras around the world, these images reveal hidden, nocturnal landscapes. Featuring views of the nights from the dark, hidden location. Human presence is subtly hinted but never fully shown.

Tools:
Planet Cam, Adobe Lightroom





Through the Looking GlassWhen looking through the aquariums, corals, water plants, and bubbles emerge. Lights and reflections merged into the scene and become a part of the underwater world. Yet much remain hidden in the corners, often unseen.

Tools:
Sony ILCE-7M3, Olympus SZ-12, Adobe Lightroom





VeinsThis series is an attempt to penetrate and uncover the intricate dynamics between body parts and its surroundings. By illuminating these subjects, I aim to capture the veins and layers hidden beneath the surface.

Inspired by Posthumanist Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter, it draws on the concept of performativity as an iterative process of intra-activity, where matter—both human and nonhuman—is continuously reshaped through acts and interventions.
Tools:
Olympus SZ-12, Adobe Lightroom





Exit Status 2An audiovisual performance exploring surveillance and silouette through human interactions and physical touch.
Collaborator: Emily Hu Tools:  
Arduino
Ableton Live 11
TouchDesigner




Interactions:


The white frame is equipped with arduino buttons and potentiometers, as well as conductive buttons that connects to the two performers.
When two half of the conductive buttons touch, different sound tracks from arduino is triggered. And the buttons on frame controls TouchDesigner visuals and the potentiometers controls various audio effects.






Platonic Chains

Exhibited in ITP/IMA 2024 Spring Show
IMA instagram post link


A site-specific installation exploring sound & mechanized-organic interaction.  Constantly moving web-structure made with chains and hung from the ceiling.

Installed at the Media Commons @ 370 Jay Street in April of 2024. Featured in the Interactive Telecommunications Spring Show May 2024.

 1/4" steel chains, motorized winch, quick links, arduino, found objects
Dimensions:  adjustable

Team: 
Jacenia Li
Annie Zhu
Qashka Rulino
Jannah Mokhtar




Installation Images




Working Mechanisms:


Arduino connects to two separate linear actuators that decides the duration to press the buttons of the garage winch that supports and moves the metal chains up and down to create wavy movements.

Process Documentation:


Stage 1 - Ideation and Prototypes


Project Description:
“A constantly moving web installation that audiences can navigate through. This installation is made with chains and hung from the ceiling, with its main parts around a human height. The center of the web is connected to the ceiling with a motor that moves it up and down. And it will automatically make sounds when clashing with itself and the ground.”

Stage 2 - Material Tests and Cost Estimation

sourcing chain sizes and buying foot-long samples of 3/8″ and 1/4″ and decide to go ahead and order what we thought was 1/4″


Stage 3 - Working Mechanisms and Physical Computing Testing

Stage 4 - Staging Tests

Stage 5 - Main Controller / Box Building

Stage 6 - Installation

Stage 7 - Exhibition

Stage 8 - Deinstallation

Stage 9 - ITP / IMA Spring Show