Cheap Mirror

At the heart of LI Yi-Fan’s work is a singular question: Who are we becoming, newly, through our screens? LI grew up in a time when phones, video games, and computers not only changed how people experience the world, but their relationships to themselves. The artist creates animations, sculptures, and videos that continually probe our lives as mediated by screens, platforms, and software. Scanning and filming his own body many times over, he moves virtual and digital models much like a puppet master, creating wild, roiling set pieces driven by strange, hilarious, and unsettling narratives. In Cheap Mirror, a continuation of work presented at the 2026 Venice Biennale, a single character speaks directly to the viewer in a quiet monologue, much like the host of an online tutorial video. His first commission for a US exhibition, this new film also responds to the architecture of the venue and speaks to the triennial’s broader reflections on how time can, and perhaps should, be cheated—not only by humans, but also by machines.