NYC PIT Pop-Up Day 7! 11/02/25 - Mengna Da & Chienn Tai Live Performance

Where is our agency in the age of algorithms? During this live, interactive performance lecture by Mengna Da, the audience can control the artist’s body via a custom web app on their phones. As the artist executes the commands in real time, she will simultaneously give a talk on agency in the contexts of data surveillance, body politics, digital labor, and AI. How is the illusion of agency used as a means of digital (self-)colonization? Facing the challenges of algorithmic control and AI, how can we reclaim our agency?

As the performance unfolds with composed and live music by Chienn Tai, the artist begins to share labor and agency with the avatars as well as the audience, creating a system that challenges traditional HCI (Human-Computer Interaction). It is also a social experiment that questions who holds power – is it the artist, the audience, or an interconnected system that generates a more collective and fluid type of agency through ongoing interactions?

Artificial Agency – SOUR GUMMIES DON’T CRY is a project by Mengna Da (NYU – ITP/IMA) and Chienn Tai.

About Mengna Da and Chienn Tai:

Lead Artist: Mengna Da (she/they/it) is a multimedia artist, producer, and designer. She connects people, concepts, and technology to create interactive stories and experiences about agency, power/play, cyberfeminist embodiment, and meaningful discomfort. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Resident in Interactive Media Arts at New York University.

Musician: Chienn Tai (she/they) is a Taiwanese composer, producer, and multimedia artist based in New York. Her work explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of the body and emotions through sound, performance, and creative technology.
After earning a Master’s degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Chienn has developed a strong focus on composition and film scoring, creating music for films and theater, and currently serves as the Digital Arts Curator at the Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle.

Check out Mengna's Work! - https://mengna-da.com/

Check out Chienn's Work! - https://chienntai.notion.site/portfolio

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/coffee...
License code: VMLS9DUK8TH5ACTZ