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Cyan Bae

wetenschap & techniek , LHBTIQ+ , Gender , Digitale technologie , Audiovisueel , Artistiek onderzoek

Cyan Bae (b. 1993, South Korea) is a visual artist, filmmaker, and researcher based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Their work often explores bodily and emotional experiences in relation to socio-technical systems through experimental filmmaking, graphics, and writing.

As a PhD candidate in Political Science at Leiden University, Cyan investigates the politics of algorithmic lie detection and emotion recognition technologies, employing reenactment and filmmaking as research methods. This doctoral research, as part of the Security Vision research project, culminates in a film trilogy; the first installation, Welcome to Set (2026) received the Tënk Opening Scenes Award at Visions du Réel (CH). The sequel, How to Lie, Femme, and Pass, won the IFFR RTM Pitch and will have its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL) and Asian premiere at DMZ Docs (KR) in 2027.

Cyan's films have been screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL), Visions du Réel (CH), Nederlands Film Festival (NL), Jeonju International Film Festival (KR), Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul (KR), and Het Documentaire Paviljoen (NL), among others. Dear Chaemin (2020) won the Grand Prize at Seoul International Women's Film Festival (KR) and the National Award at Leiden Shorts (NL).

Cyan is co-founder of First Cut, an artist-run initiative for experimental film, and has served as a jury member at Leiden Shorts (NL) and the Movies that Matter Festival (NL).

For Your (Un)safety and (Dis)comfort, 5-channel video installation, 2026 (11:12)
For Your (Un)safety and (Dis)comfort, 5-channel video installation, 2026 (11:12) - How can we lie to the lie detector? For Your (Un)safety and (Dis)comfort is a compilation of (un)safety videos as alternative video manuals of algorithmic lie detectors, re-imagined from queer and feminist approaches to technology. Written, filmed, and edited with participants from backgrounds in acting, polygraphy, drag, programming, community work, and comedy, this installation presents our ongoing collaboration through participatory filmmaking as a method of research and resistance. (with Avena Jaramillo Rodríguez, Eunseo Hyun, Hyeji Keum, Ildiko Flipse, Inés Dominguez del Corral, Nuel van Gelder de Neufville, Raisa Riemens, Senka Milutinović) [Image: Installation view, The Gray Space in the Middle, Den Haag. Photo - Cyan Bae]
Welcome to Set, single-channel video, 2026 (14:45)
Welcome to Set, single-channel video, 2026 (14:45) - Congratulations! You've been selected as a validity rater for the datasets behind emotional AI technologies. Reenacting laboratory data collection processes, Welcome to Set invites you behind the scenes of machine learning, where data becomes drama. This experimental documentary explores how emotion, suspicion, and politics intertwine within the algorithmic practices of security. [Image: film still / Video: trailer]
Follow My Fingers, mixed-media installation, 2026 (08:41)
Follow My Fingers, mixed-media installation, 2026 (08:41) - Follow My Fingers departs from Cyan's trip in 2023 to South Korea to join a 300-hour training program to become a polygraph examiner. This installation showcases ongoing attempts to make sense of the material and psychological traces of this journey with a paper roll continuously printing polygraph charts. Learning to relate with the device, they become involved in the lie detection technology, entangled with trauma, institutionalization, and the politics of forensic sciences. [Image: Installation view, The Gray Space in the Middle, Den Haag. Photo - Cyan Bae]
Dear Chaemin, 3-channel video installation, 2020 (17:15)
Dear Chaemin, 3-channel video installation, 2020 (17:15) - Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of video letters are sent to the director's sister in Seoul. Should we want to return to the 'old normal'? The autofictional film juxtaposes the Korean and Dutch contexts of contact tracing, biopolitics, and crowd control practices, each of which intensifies the stigmatization and violence against queer communities and people of Asian descent. [Image: Installation view, Alte Münze, Berlin. Photo - Till Vill / Video: trailer]
Amo Te Vita, single-channel video projection and publications, 2019 (7:53)
Amo Te Vita, single-channel video projection and publications, 2019 (7:53) - In The Hague, archaeologists unearthed a Roman silver ring inscribed with the words “Amo Te Vita,” meaning “I love you, my love.” This short documentary reimagines the ring's origins through queering local history. In challenging normative conceptions of ancient romance, the film expands the archaeological imagination around apparently banal artifacts. [Image: Installation view, De Besturing, The Hague. Photo - Roel Backaert / Video: trailer]

Watching Machines: Life under Algorithmic Eyes

Datum:
Locatie: The Grey Space in the Middle
In samenwerking met: Security Vision, ReCNTR

Welcome to Set / For Your (Un)safety and (Dis)comfort / Follow My Fingers, Group exhibition

Jeonju International Film Festival

Datum:

Welcome to Set, Korean Competition for Shorts

Visions du Réel

Datum:

Welcome to Set, Tënk Opening Scenes Award

https://www.visionsdureel.ch/en/film/2026/welcome-to-set/

International Film Festival Rotterdam

Datum:

Welcome to Set, RTM

https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2026/films/welcome-to-set

Locarno Film Festival

Datum:

REAL: Reality Exploration Academy of Locarno

Unfinished Film Festival

Datum:
Locatie: Odapark
In samenwerking met: Video Power & Odapark

Motion Technologies: Socio-technical Practices For Securing Bodies In Movement

Datum:
Locatie: Université Catholique de Lille
In samenwerking met: International Studies Association Pan-European Conference (EISA PEC)

Co-organised with Ruben van de Ven

Dove Sono Finite Le Immagini Pandemiche? [Where Have the Pandemic Images Gone?]

Datum:
Locatie: Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA)

Dear Chaemin, Group exhibition

International Studies Association Annual Convention

Datum:

Panel ‘Algorithmic Governance for Security, Policing & Regulation: An International Comparative Perspective’
Panel ‘Technological Vision In the Doing and Understanding of Security: The Practice and Algorithmic Politics of Computer Vision and Related Technologies’

London Korean Film Festival

Datum:

Dear Chaemin, Women's Voices Shorts

https://www.koreanfilm.co.uk/events/lkff-2022-womens-voices-shorts-x-seoul-international-womens-film-fest/

Practicing Sovereignty: Interventions for Open Digital Futures

Datum:
Locatie: Alte Münze
In samenwerking met: Weizenbaum Institut

Dear Chaemin, Group exhibition & conference

Project Security Vision: The Algorithmic Security Politics of Computer Vision

Datum:
Locatie: Institute of Political Science, Leiden University
In samenwerking met: Institute of Political Science, Leiden University

As a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, my ongoing research investigates the socio-political implications of algorithmic emotion recognition and deception detection technologies through filmmaking as a research method, as part of the Security Vision research project.

https://www.securityvision.io/

Dear Chaemin

Datum:

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of video letters are sent to the director’s sister in Seoul. Should we want to return to the ‘old normal’? The autofictional film juxtaposes the Korean and Dutch contexts of contact tracing, biopolitics, and crowd control practices, each of which intensifies the stigmatization and violence against queer communities and people of Asian descent.

https://pingping.press/Dear-Chaemin
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