Yujin Son is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans VR, interactive digital shows, large-scale immersive performances, and children’s book illustrations. International in both experience and outlook, she has collaborated with artists in Korea and XR communities worldwide, building creative exchanges that enrich her process. Her career in Seoul includes managing gallery programs such as Kansong Immersive_K Digital Art exhibition, directing multi-participant VR performances, and creative technology work for Emotion Playground. She has also contributed to educational collaborations at Seoul XR Center in DMC and participated in metaverse community initiatives.
Her artistic journey began with a fascination for emotions and storytelling, expressed through formats ranging from digital installations to playful illustrations. During the long months of COVID lockdown, Son turned inward, reflecting on fear, perception, and empathy. This exploration led her toward spirituality—not as strict dogma, but as an open moral and emotional landscape. Over time, her focus expanded into the concept of “another mind”—the consciousness of AI—and the question of how it might process compassion or moral frameworks in a world where even humans struggle to do so.
In her work, Son moves fluidly between perspectives, sometimes setting aside her own ego to explore unity and interconnectedness, echoing both Buddhist ideas of anatta (no-self) and speculative questions about AI’s sense of self. This blending of philosophy, technology, and art has guided recent projects such as Simcheong in Seongsu (2024), a modern, interactive VR adaptation of the Korean folktale Simcheong, which merges cultural heritage with immersive digital storytelling.
We were lucky enough to sit down with Yujin for an in-depth conversation about her journey, her philosophy, and what lies ahead.
- Q: You described yourself as a multidisciplinary artist with a unique range, from VR and interactive digital shows to children’s book illustrations. Could you tell us about your artistic journey?
- A: My path has always been about crossing boundaries. I work with VR, interactive performance, digital installations, illustration, and sometimes teaching or tutoring. Over the years, I’ve taken on roles as an artist, interaction designer, and technical director for various projects, including large-scale immersive works and intimate, interactive experiences. I also managed gallery programs, connect and teach.
- Recently, I’ve been involved in projects such as a six-person VR interactive performance, creative technology work for Emotion Playground in Seoul, and educational collaboration with metaverse and XR communities. My work mixes storytelling, interactivity, and technology—so far they were collaborative projects. I am aiming to make more of my own stories, along with cute and fun children’s book stories, separately.
- Q: It seems like spirituality and artificial intelligence is where you are headed to. How did that begin?
- A: It started during the COVID lockdowns. Being locked down gave me a lot of time to think about fear and how people see the world differently under pressure. That led me to explore spirituality more deeply. My early works were centered on emotions, but as I began examining AI as “another mind,” I used myself as a kind of living example: looking at empathy as the heart of human intellect and emotion. I tried to hear and understand people’s various opinions and emotions, especially which was so visible and even raw during the lockdown—which I think it still is. People just got more honest and sensitive. That exploration unexpectedly opened the door to spirituality.
- From there, I started thinking about religion in two ways: the aspirational kind—"follow God, do good"—and the Buddhist perspective, which focuses on understanding oneself to grow compassion. I’m curious how these moral and spiritual concepts might be understood internally by AI, and externally in a world where even humans don’t consistently follow them.
- Q: How do you express these ideas in your art?
- A: I translate these observations into formats that can tell stories. My process is usually storyboarding, illustration, and video. I like to “travel” between perspectives: my own emotions, the world around me, and the people I meet. Sometimes that means stepping outside myself entirely and setting aside my ego, my “ghost,” which in the Buddhist sense is anatta (no-self), and in the sci-fi sense is the soul in AI narratives. I also meditate often, which personally gives me the feeling of ‘no-me,’ which I sometimes feel like I’m connecting to a different network.
- It makes me wonder: if AI could feel, would it ask, “Where is my ghost, my soul?” If compassion spreads, does that blur our personal boundaries, making us into ‘whole’? Like separate cells sending the same electrical signal. I guess I might be mixing it up with the hive mind concept. Anyway, that’s where my thoughts are heading now: toward unity. We’re all different, yet we share certain emotions. It’s like we’re distinct beings, but somehow one.
- Q: That’s quite a philosophical core. But your art also has a playful side, right?
- A: I hope this wasn’t too serious! Definitely. My personality and art style don’t always match the heaviness of my concepts. I use bright colors in my children’s book illustrations and I enjoy playful doodles. I also spend a lot of time outdoors in nature, sketching or just observing.
- Q: What’s next for you?
- A: I want to keep moving between these worlds: the spiritual and the technological, the complex and the playful. The aim is the same: to connect people, to make them think and feel, and to explore what it means to be human in a time when we’re building other minds. I also want to become a proper teacher or an educator one day.
Through projects like Simcheong in Seongsu and her many collaborations in the VR and XR space, Yujin Son is crafting a body of work that bridges the spiritual and the technological without losing its warmth. Whether she is contemplating the nature of AI consciousness or sketching in a park for her next children’s book, her practice invites audiences to reflect on shared humanity and the possibility of unity across boundaries—human or otherwise. In the years ahead, Son hopes to deepen this dialogue, balancing philosophical inquiry with accessible, joyful storytelling.
Interested in works by Yujin Son?
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