Yuqian Sun \ AI Nüshu
About the Artwork
AI Nüshu, by artist Yuqian Sun, is an interactive art project that merges computational linguistics with the legacy of Nüshu (女书), also referred to as “Women’s Script”. This project trains AI agents to imitate 19th-century women in ancient China to create a new language system, symbolizing the defiance of patriarchal constraints and the emergence of language in a non-Western, feminist context. Some experts believe Nüshu may have roots in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) or even the Shang Dynasty (over 3,000 years ago), but the general consensus is that it emerged in the 19th century.
Nüshu (女书) is a unique language created and used exclusively by women in Hunan Province, China for centuries to communicate in a world where they were excluded from. These women were outside of the centralized seats of historical power, which valued education, something exclusively reserved for upper class men. The women did not have agency and autonomy in society. Moreover, their bodies, images, and subculture were co-opted and utilized in the formation of a “modern” society, and used as a means to further the leading cultural and political agenda.
These women circumnavigated environments that were not set up to their advantage, traversing unseen landscapes and creating entirely new worlds through the creation of specific local languages like Nüshu. Women like those who used Nüshu, ingeniously adapted to live in spaces that they were excluded from, much like many women in the diaspora who also resourcefully created new systems in order to exist and thrive in unwelcoming spaces.
About Yuqian
Yuqian (Uchan) Sun, also known as CheeseTalk, is a Chinese AI narrative researcher and artist based in London. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Royal College of Art. Focusing on the power of language, Yuqian aims to create 'alive' narrative experiences that extend beyond video games and into our daily lives through conversational AI agents. She explores linguistic interactions through chatbots, games, and interactive installations. Yuqian's interdisciplinary arts and research have been featured in galleries and tech conferences including SIGGRAPH, CVPR, NeurIPS, Gamescom, Seoul Media Facade, and New York Times Square. She won the Reddot Design Award and Lumen Prize in 2024. She is also a guest panelist at NVIDIA GTC and a GDC speaker.