01/06/24 - 29/09/24
Ethel LILIENFELD. EMI
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 follow- ers. 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.
The emi.nevergone.cloud website is an outgrowth of the EMI film, extending the narrative into another space and time.
Biography
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. Al- though 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 (Brus- sels) 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: Villa Albertine Grant / Étant Donnés Contemporary Art (2023); PrixFintroPrijs / Audience award and second jury prize (BE, 2023); Production grant of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (BE, 2022); Audience award, Brussels Videonline Festival #2 at LA CENTRALE (BE, 2021); Cocof Award (French Community Commission) at Médiatine (BE, 2021); Prix des Amis de La Cambre (BE, 2020).
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); Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (Paris, FR); KANAL - Centre Pompidou (Brussels, BE); Z33 Museum (Hasselt, BE); La CENTRALE pour l’art contemporain (Brussels, BE); etc.
