Unstable Portraiture

Unstable Portraiture by Lim Kok Yoong is an artwork that extends the ideas explored in his first solo exhibition, When You Are Not Your Body (WYANYB), presented at Valentine Willie in 2008. WYANYB delved into the metaphysical phenomenon of digital existence and self-consciousness, emphasizing the shift from embodied physicality to a disembodied digital lifestyle. In Unstable Portraiture, Lim revisits these ideas, drawing from nearly 2,000 photographs of visitors collected during the WYANYB exhibition. These images serve as training data for a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to create a simulated version of the artist himself. By both discriminating and assimilating the visual elements of these strangers, the artwork generates a constantly evolving animated self-portrait. This digital morphology highlights the complex, interconnected nature of self-conception in the cyber realm, celebrating the fluidity and relationality of identity shaped through social interaction. Presented as an installation, Unstable Portraiture was showcased in the multidisciplinary group exhibition ber{SEMANGAT} at Galeri Puteh in Kuala Lumpur in October 2022.