Jeamin Cha

Ellie's Eye 
Two channel video installation, 2020, FHD video, 11 minutes, color/ sound

Ellie’s Eye is an essay-video comprising found and original footage. Ellie is the name of an AI therapist in development at the time of writing, as well as the name of one of the dogs featured in the work. Dogs and AI avatars are similar in that both are dependent on humans. Ellie's Eye examines how technologies invented for medical treatment relate to the human desire to see through, and into—such as x-rays, through-wall movement sensing, and AI-assisted psychotherapy. In the process, the work intertwines facts and fiction about the eye, eyesight, and the act of seeing. Medical scans and image technologies, tools that produce evidence of physical health or the lack thereof, have made rapid progress in the recent past; meanwhile, technologies for mental diagnosis are also developing at a similarly fast pace. This work interrogates how future societies and technologies can approach psychological issues of different individuals, and whether we are objectifying the human psyche itself.

A Film by
Jeamin Cha

Cast
Kanya Aiko Abe
Yina Kim
Joe Melamed

Cheeks
Cibou

Director of Photography Mik Gaspay
Music Minwhee Lee
Sound Recordist Shona Mei Findlay
Sound Design Morceau. J. Woo
Image Research Assistant Hyejin Byun
2D Graphic Minwoo Jang
Location UNI Pet Clinic

The video sources of SimSensi were provided by Albert Skip Rizzo, Ph.D.
The images related to dogs were provided by Dr. Jury Kim and Dr. Park Jun Seok.

With Special Thanks to
Albert Skip Rizzo, Ph.D., Bright Eye Animal Hospital, Amanda Luu, Dongseok Shin, Dr. Hanlim Kang, Dr. Jury Kim, Kim Gee Woo, Marie Martraire, Minsoo Thigpen, Nancy Dinh, Dr. Park Jun Seok, The Beomeo Animal Medical Center.

Special thanks to the KADIST Team
Shona Mei Findlay, Jordan Holms, Marie Martraire, Joe Melamed, Amanda Nudelman, Fernanda Partida Ochoa, and Jordan Stein 

Commissioned by KADIST