A.I Nai Nai - 人工 奶奶
Development of A.I Nai Nai - 人工 奶奶
Melbourne Australia
https://antipodestheatre.com/2024winter-lab
https://antipodestheatre.com/2025-ai-nai-nai-development
AI Nai Nai in development in collaboration with Antipodes Theatre Company, Melbourne, Australia 24/25 (Brandon Pape, Artistic Director; Cameron Steens, New Work Manager).
The "AI Nai Nai Project" is a deeply personal exploration into the realms of spirit mediumship, memory, and ancestral connection. Rooted in the legacy of my grandmother, Mary Ngu Ching Siew, Nie Nie (Grandmother in Mandarin). This project seeks to explore the intersections of past, present, and the ‘spirit world’ through family and historical research, artificial intelligence (AI) and devised performance. The project aims to create a bridge between generations, cultures, and continents, using AI as a conduit for storytelling, cultural preservation, and connection.
"AI Nai Nai" emerges as an avenue for reconciliation, homage, and a tangible contemporary connection in a meta form to the past in the present. The project unfolds across three intertwined realms, each bearing equal weight and significance: the legacy of Nai Nai, the traditions of the "Wu" lineage, my grandmothers family name which translates to " female shaman" or "spirit medium," and the profound questions of digital necromancy. The project intertwined with the Wu lineage ‘female shaman’ questions can AI be a spirit medium? Is this modern day shamanism?
ROLE: Concept/Devisor/Director
Collaborators development 2024: Collaborators development 2025:
AI Consultant: Kang Wei Tan Performer/Devisor: Janette Hoe
Dramaturg & Devisor: Janette Hoe Performer/Devisor: Sasha Leong
Devisor: Angelique 烨 Zhou Performer/Devisor: Jalen Ong
Devisor: Sasha Leong Writing Consultant: Emma Fawcett
Sound Designer: Lisa Greenaway Dramaturg Consultant: Yuchen Yao
Project Associate: Lakshmi Ganapathy
PRODUCTION TEAM - https://antipodestheatre.com/
Photo credit 2024 : Cameron Steens Photo credit 2025: Angel Leggas 3 Fates Media
Video credit 2024: A.I generated: Kang Wei Tan Video credit 2025: Cameron Steens
