Our world is facing a major challenge: the depletion of the Earth's limited resources demands urgent attention and action. The interactive experience installation "AI Symbiosphere” was open to the public at the 2024 Shanghai Xintiandi Design Festival. This work breaks away from traditional human-centered perspectives and explores the idea of "coexistence" and "symbiosis" from the viewpoint of equality between humans and other animals. Our unique approach blends AI technology with nature to create a transformative experience.  Inspired by Cai Guoqiang’s installation “Heritage”  where animals gather to share limited resources equally, we use AI to transform visitors’ reflections into animal images. The innovative concept bridges urban and natural elements, encouraging visitors to rethink their relationship with the environment. By merging real and virtual worlds, we aim to inspire greater awareness and responsibility for our planet's limited resources. The installation is located in the center of the Xintiandi shopping mall, an area filled with contrasts and dramatic scenes. Visitors first enter a "real forest" within the urban environment, proceeding along a path built on "architectural ruins," where they encounter a "well" made of screens and mirrors. Three screens of different sizes simulate a water surface, while the mirrors reflect the real surroundings of the visitors. As they look into the well, AI technology captures their reflection and transforms it into an animal image, creating a 30-second personalized video, ready to share via a QR code.The experience receives this unique digital souvenir from nature as a "gift", a way to look back on their journey of exchange with nature at any time. With 95% of materials reused or recycled, the installation promotes environmental awareness. Real plants from partner "MARATTI" are reused post-exhibition. The "Flamingos" steel structure is designed for quick assembly and recycling. The modular system ensures high efficiency and sustainability.

AI technology can transform visitors' faces into animal images, breaking down the boundaries between humans and animals. This allows participants to feel the significance of symbiosis during the experience and establish an emotional connection with nature. At the same time, personalized videos are generated, providing unique digital souvenirs that enhance user engagement and create memorable moments, stimulating awareness and a sense of responsibility regarding the Earth's limited resources.

The installation attracted over 15,000 visitors during its operation, and the designer was invited to participate in a Forbes interview, providing the brand with additional exposure opportunities and enhancing its visibility and influence. The project made extensive use of recycled and reusable materials, attracting consumers who are focused on sustainability thus enhancing the project's commercial value. Collaboration with partners like "MARATTI" also created opportunities for future project expansion, cooperation, and resource sharing, contributing to the brand's long-term development.

AI Symbiosphere attracted over 15,777 visitors during its 16-day event, demonstrating enormous social impact. It successfully integrated artificial intelligence technology with artistic design, conveying sustainable living concepts and values of coexistence with nature. This sparked public reflection and exploration regarding the interplay between technology, art, and future possibilities.

Concept & Design & Production: VAVE Studio Creative Director: Haijie Hu, Zhuyu Miao, Lisa Chen Digital Content Technology: Zhuyu Miao Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Support: Professor Bingbing Ni from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Concept Design: Elsa Ge, Junrong Zhang Space Design: Xiang Ou, Simon Huang Communication Design: Rebecca To, Chris Dong Technical Director: Frank Fu Project Coordination: Frank Fu, Junlei Zhou Operational Support: Ziyuan Dai, Wenbin Xiong PR Manager: Daisy Li, Shichao Yang, Victoria Cocco, Ying Shao Indoor Plant Consultant: MARATTI Structure Consultant: Flamingos Acoustic Consultant: OASTHAUS AVL Device Consultant: LEYARD | LINSO LED Construction: MARATTI, Flamingos

To ensure that users can experience real-time interactive AI imagery, where their faces continuously transform into various animal forms in front of a 4K HD captured image, and that this transformation can be driven by their facial expressions, we selected StreamDiffusion as the AI pipeline solution during the software development. Additionally, to achieve a transformation and generation speed of 60 frames per second while handling multiple 4K input sources, we implemented optimizations such as stream batching and input-output queues.

Design Period: May to June 2024 (approximately 2 months) Delivery Date: June 23, 2024 Cost: 800,000 RMB

AI Symbiosphere represents a significant breakthrough for VAVE in the field of the integration of technology and art. It is also the second in a series of projects created by Dream Co. Dream Co is an independent IP owned by VAVE Studio. It blurs the boundaries between the real and the digital, creating extraordinary experiences for visitors, which is currently under continuous development. The first project, “Dream Co," was showcased at the 2023 Xintiandi Design Festival. Through a creatively immersive experience, AI Symbiosphere not only embodies VAVE's mission of “make people feel," but also reflects the company's attention to global issues and the social responsibilities it undertakes. The project aims to raise public awareness of environmental protection and promote positivity and optimism.