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Reply All

my undergrad thesis exhibition.




When I was 7 years old, I created a Yahoo account to vote on American Idol. But the emails I sent after this have long been forgotten in my memories. By facing tangible memories that have once been lost, Reply All is a two-part series that seeks to create a space that promotes deep thought and asks us to face the uncomfortability of our nuanced relationships with the people in our lives that we love. The title Reply All alludes to the email button we all have accidentally pressed. It refers to me sharing my thoughts and feelings to a larger audience, as well as the struggle in allowing myself to be vulnerable in order to do so. Part One is an interactive 3D environment that tells a story about myself and my ever-changing relationship with my parents, and how I am slowly starting to build back a different version of our love. Part Two is an interactive AR experience that shares the stories gathered anonymously from my friends and strangers. Reply All strives to create interactive moments that encourage participants to form their own experience and reflections.



Part One: interactive 3D environment

view here


photo credits: Tina Shi

I designed a 3D space on New Art City, an accessible open-source platform to create 3D environments.
I created poems out of my emails, created 3D assets to use in the environment, and curated the space with my own images and designs. I worked with sound designers John Miranda and Megan Chow to create soundscapes for the environment as well.


Part Two: interactive AR experience

I gathered stories from strangers and friends through a Google Form I posted on my IG story.


photo credits: Tina Shi

I designed cards based on the stories I collected. When the cards were held up the camera,
AR would show hidden words I had collected, 3D objects, animations, and videos.



cards before

these were the printed cards viewers held up to the camera

cards + AR


















The two hanging scrolls featured two designs corresponding to each of the two parts. I took inspiration from the idea of a cybernetic garden.
The design facing Part One featured a chair and a desk with a computer sitting on a hill. The design facing Part Two featured objects from each of the cards I designed on various parts of a hilly landscape.


Special Thanks


Huge thank you to the Media Arts + Practice division. Even as I write this 2 months after the exhibition, I am still filled with pride to have been part of such an amazing program filled with amazing faculty and students. They are what carried me through college. I am extremely thankful to have had this opportunity to learn and share my art with you.
Special thanks to DJ Johnson, Elizabeth Ramsey, Sonia Seetharaman, Dave Lopez, and Qianqian Ye. You have all profoundly impacted my life forever. 

Thank you also to my amazing cohort--the most talented bunch I have ever met. And thank you to all of my friends
and professors who came to see my exhibition :)






USC Media Arts + Practice undergraduate exhibition Reality Check: Who are you? How do you know?
Poster designed by Katie Liu, Rane Bieker, and Luke Quezada

View Catalogue Here