Created during the pandemic in Shanghai, Uncanny Rally unfolds inside a nightclub as an immersive social experiment exploring the unstable boundary between authenticity and simulation.

Taking inspiration from the proposition, "Anyone attempting to build a believable human facsimile also has to beware of the Uncanny Valley," the project investigates the psychological unease produced when artificial humans become almost—but not entirely—real.

Using early AI image-generation systems, artist Sai Li generated one hundred photorealistic portraits of people who have never existed. These synthetic identities were materialized as wearable masks and activated throughout the club by participants, transforming anonymous bodies into fictional presences.

At the center of the installation, a holographic cube projected prerecorded "fake" holograms. Although entirely scripted, their lifelike presence blurred the distinction between recorded image and living body, reinforcing the exhibition's exploration of fabricated realities.

Rather than presenting deception as a technological trick, Uncanny Rally approached "fake" as a social condition. Within the temporary community of the club, fabricated faces, synthetic identities, and simulated encounters circulated alongside real bodies, exposing how trust, identity, and intimacy are constructed through collective participation.

Staged during the pandemic, the work reflected a moment when digital mediation increasingly replaced physical contact. Long before generative AI entered daily life, Uncanny Rally anticipated a future in which questions of authenticity would become part of lived experience.

于上海疫情期间创作，《Uncanny Rally》以夜店为场域展开，作为一项沉浸式社会实验，探讨真实与模拟之间不稳定的边界。作品源自如下命题：“任何试图构建可信人类拟像的行为，都必须警惕恐怖谷效应。”基于这一前提，该项目聚焦人工生成形象在逼近“真实”时所引发的心理不安与感知断裂。

艺术家 Sai Li 使用早期 AI 图像生成系统，生成一百张从未存在过的人像肖像。这些合成身份被转化为可穿戴面具，并在夜店空间中由参与者激活，使匿名身体转化为不断流动的虚构存在。装置中央的全息立方体持续播放预先录制的“伪”全息影像。尽管完全由脚本构成，这些影像却以近似生命的方式存在，模糊了录制图像与“在场身体”之间的界限，从而强化了作品对拟构现实的探讨。

《Uncanny Rally》并未将“伪造”作为一种技术性欺骗，而是将其视为一种社会条件。在夜店这一临时共同体中，虚构面孔、合成身份与模拟互动与真实身体并置流通，揭示信任、身份与亲密关系如何在集体参与中被建构。

作品诞生于疫情时期，回应了一个数字媒介逐渐取代物理接触的时刻。在生成式 AI 尚未进入日常生活之前，《Uncanny Rally》已预示了一个未来：真实性将不再是既定属性，而是一种持续被经验与协商的问题。