TED Talks Daily - The case for making art in a crisis | Yiyun Kang | Your Body on Tech

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

We have more data than any generation in history, yet reality has never felt harder to grasp. Artist Yiyun Kang is on a mission to translate the invisible crises of our time — from vanishing fresh water and collapsing ecosystems to the black box of AI — into physical experiences that people can feel. Art isn’t a luxury, she says. It’s essential to understanding and acting on our biggest problems.And stick around after her talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas she shared on stage and beyond.This is episode six of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I am Manusse Zamorodi. I am a journalist, an author, a two-time TED speaker, and you may recognize my voice from the TED Radio Hour podcast over on NPR. This week, I am taking over for Elise Hugh with a series of episodes all about how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era. So why am I here? I had the honor of guest-curators. a session at TED-20206, full of speakers whose work will make you think differently, about your body, technology, and what is keeping us human in this digital age? One of the many things that feels so strange and disconcerting about our modern era is that we are surrounded by invisible systems that shape our behavior.

Take AI. It is run by algorithmic black boxes. We see the data coming in, and we see the TEDx. text or messaging or information that comes out, but we don't know exactly what's going on inside the machine. We can't touch it or see it. We don't even fully understand it. Yu Yun Kong is a mixed media artist whose work is about spanning that gap

between us and those invisible forces. The mission became clear to render the invisible visible. I want to translate these wicked problems into physical experiences so that we can truly care. And when I say mixed media, I mean mixed. She is trained as a painter, but now works with data, lasers, graphic design, and of course AI too. She is as high tech as the technology she interrogates. But the beautiful stories she tells feel connecting rather than alienating. Because art, as she says, is a.

a nice add-on to science and technology, it's a crucial bridge between information, humanity, and our well-being on this planet. Arts is the Viter Bridge, a missing link that has undeniable power to restore our lost connection. But now, we face even deeper crises, one that challenges the very definitions of human intelligence, the unfathomable AI. The technology is advancing in a staggering pace, then we have to accept an uncomfortable truth. Her talk, as you might expect, is very visual.

So, just for you, we asked her to describe each work that she presented on stage so that you two can feel the emotions she stirred up in the TED Theater. Eyun's talk and our conversation coming up. Our TED Talk and Conversation of the Day. This is a glimpse into one of my artworks, vanishing. What do you see, this is a tribute to the species extinguished by us humanity. I dedicate my career to translating the invisible crisis of our time

as vivid as the images before you. That includes climate change, artificial intelligence, and even the crisis of our own humanity. We're living in an era of wicked problems. The crisis are so massive that we cannot grasp them. We can feel a paper cost, but we cannot feel a collapsing planet. I'm an artist working with a lot of immersive technologists. So what kind of work should start my TED talk?

I thought about the vanishing. Vanishing is originally put in one of the largest LED facade in Seoul. It's like 16 meters wide. It's an art's work, but it's outside of gallery or museum. It's a completely public space. And it was happening over the COVID-19. So, okay, I thought about what kind of story should I tell? What is the vanished entities of our time because of the human activities?

So I put a huge images of animals that once lived in the earth, but vanished because of our behaviors. The TED projection screen is 30 meters wide. But then the TED stage is quite small. We're such a tiny, tiny entity. So I wanted to show the dramatic difference between the human scale and the massive, mysterious power of nature somehow. I decided to remove any color.

It was entirely black and white. And I decided to start my talk in the darkness. Behind me, there is a massive scale screens. And out of the darkness, mysterious continents emerges. And inside of the continents, fossilized the skeletons, swoops across the screen, and then they disappear. And after that, a massive scale wings appears. And with the continents,

And they started to scatter the way. And it fall apart into tiny little pieces, into the darkness. In our endless chase of progress, we have turned our nature and technology into monumental threats. Paradoxically, we have devastated the very habitat we live in and jeopardize the very intelligence that makes us human. The result is great anxiety. But we must ask ourselves, was this collapse truly unseen? We have more data than any generation in history,

yet really to feel is further away. We're drowning in information, but starving for meaning. The chain of understanding is broken, living our crisis so cold in abstracts. We have lost the connection and the ability to care. Living at the intersection of art and technology, the mission became clear. to render the invisible visible.

I want to translate these wicked problems into physical experiences so that we can truly care. But how do we translate the intangibles? Let me take you on my journey. I began with the most vital data set, the Earth, specifically, our water. Half of humanity will like clean water by 2050, and many already do.

To expose the crisis of this vital resource, I spent an intense year with Google. They were searching for an artist to bridge the gap between complex data and creative storytelling. And an amazing door opened, NASA joined the team to offer me an exclusive access to the satellite data. This rare gift becomes the soul of my artwork, passage of water. My goal is to turn this NASA numbers into visceral experiences, dramatize them so that we can truly see and feel what is happening to our freshwater. Look at this. This is the raw satellite data that captures the water situation. Here, I wanted to deliver the overwhelming feeling of the massive amount of data.

Behind me on three giant screens are column after column of tiny white numbers, endlessly scrolling up. So fast. up to the point we don't even know how to comprehend them. We have the most sophisticated technology over time, but who can actually understand what is happening here? There is no visibility. That's the point.

So data is there, numbers there, but it doesn't have any meaning. So we have to have a scientist, we have to have a researcher, engineers, or sometimes artists, designers to translate it, to give an accessible form to it so that we can understand. What happens if we change the interface? I spend months obsessing over how to turn these numbers breathe. And now I can present the outcome to you. What you see is 20 years of water patterns turned into a breathing landscape.

This is passage of water. It lives on Google's platform designed for you to fully interact with. This is the interactive Earth landscape. Imagine yourself in space. And there is a line which you can rotate around along any point of the axis. On one side of the line, you see blue and on the other red. The blue is the freshwater that still exists. The red is its loss.

Let's see the dramatic change between 2002 and 2023. If you scroll on the timeline, the red expands seemingly and endlessly into space. and the blue gets smaller and smaller. We are losing our fresh water fast, and we are the reason. Here, the numbers become instinct. You don't just see the data, you feel it. This is where artistic creativity becomes an essential, not a luxury. It is the language that allows me to tackle those wicked problems

and turn them into something we can grasp. We brought this project to COP28s, There we spoke with climate scientists, policymakers, indigenous people who face water scarcity every day. Seeing their reactions in front of my artwork gave me absolute certainty. Arts is the vital bridge, a missing link that has undeniable power to restore our lost connection. But now we face even deeper crisis,

one that challenges the very dark, definitions of human intelligence. The unfathomable AI. Here you are, 2026, and AI is everywhere. The technology is advancing in a staggering pace, and we have to accept an uncomfortable truth. The machines are replacing parts of us.

But the real danger is hidden behind the sleek interfaces. AI gives us brilliant results, but the logic, the process, that remains a total. mystery. And that is exactly what I would call it a blood box. If these algorithms are deciding our future, shouldn't we talk about the invisibles, the hidden logic governing our lives? That is why I created this project with my students in my research lab. The title of this project is SOTA, short for state of the arts. In the world of engineering, it means to describe the gold standard of machine capability.

SOTA is about opening the block box. We know that there's tons of input data, and that input data is go through the model, and then we see the outputs. But what is going on within the model? AI that generate our images where the text isn't just magic, it's a complex mathematical structure. Digital neurons, clostridged network,

processing data through multiple hidden layers. You might assume that there are all identical grids, but as we looked deeper, we found far more diverse. What you see is living architecture have 118 AI models visualized. See how digital nuance connect and fire with its own unique geometry. The shape decides how to generate images, text, or sounds. To understand their intelligence, we need to see the shape first. At this point, there are visual representations of these computer neuron architectures.

One is layer after layer of blue grade squares piling on top of each other. Then a circle kind of spiral graph lines reaching out at the circle's edge ingrained. We might think about AI as the same ones and zeros, but each model's architecture is so different. Did I see them as truly having their own unique? shapes in geometry. When we imagine it visually, they each look completely different. Let's take a closer look at SOTA. I will show you how LLM calculates and completes a single sentence. You can see the AI models in front of you in a very big scale. 118 models look very different, and they connect data in a very different way. So this one generate images, this one generate text, this one generate

sound. It's about unveiling the structure of AI. Then, oh my God, this is what AI looks like. This is how a machine works, a complex mathematical predictions governs by its architecture. This is the invisible logic over time. When we bring the hidden machinery into the physical worlds, the artificial finally becomes tangible. To experience, The shape of AI is to demystify it. This isn't just about overcoming anxiety. It is the very first step to reclaiming our human agency.

But we don't want to stop a near understanding. Clarity is just a foundation. Our true task is not to see the presence, but to shape the future. While my previous works primarily exist within digital projections in this place, I felt a strong yearning to pull this intelligence into tangible forms. I wanted to make an overwhelming experience, something that you don't just look at,

but something you inhabit with your body. We are at a threshold. To co-design a future with AI, we must ask, what is the shape of future AI? I build a physical answer to that question. And this is light architecture. Imagine yourself in a large circular space. There are 24 metal cylinder gold rods coming up from the grounds with light on top of each one,

casting shadow all across the space. The light goes across the floor and the walls up to the ceiling. They collectively draw patterns throughout the space. The AI neurons connect and make patterns. And so here I wanted to represent that. with light. In light architecture, AI takes a physical breath.

These modules are no longer flat pixels. They are living neurons, and I call them neural parts. They pulse with light, move through space, running on an exact logic of AI. Here, you don't just watch a model. You stand inside the mind of a machine.

Together, they form a circular network feeding data into a central projection to manifest the final outputs. See the lights spills outward, filling the void. I meant for it to be a completely visceral and overwhelming physical experience. It transforms the entire room into one giant's living block box.

Why? Circular formation? Because I found my inspiration in human brain. Our brains have an incredible mechanism weaving data from cortex to deeper layers with the flexibility that AI cannot yet replicates. But it makes me wonder, with this incredible power inside our heads, we genuinely training it.

Or we're simply leaning on AI, paralyzed by the fear of being replaced by a machine, only to let our creativity and curiosity whither. I designed a circular formation to raise a question. What if AI learns this neuromorphic fluidity? What would that future look like? And more importantly, is that the future we want? As you walk through the blinding lights and absolute darkness,

you feel the vastness of AI. Is our fate to become just data providers? Is this intelligence light on our way? or pulling us deeper into the dark. Some of my artwork is really dark. Sometimes it's really super bright. It really fluctuate. I wanted to make the audience to think that,

are we getting better or worse? Do we still have the power to make changes? To end, I bring a beam of light illuminating in the darkness of the theater in almost a visual dance that helps you feel your connection. connection to the architectures of AI and these other and imaginable challenges. I wanted to use that physicality of light.

Lasers have such a strong physical volume. The lights coming from the backside of the theater towards the center of the theater. We see it. We feel it. I wanted people to be fully enveloped by the lights in darkness. This is who I am. I'm an artist who build bridges. I collaborate with scientists.

I build systems, and I connect the physical and the virtual. My art is about building spaces where you can step inside the unseen. I do this because I believe one simple truth, that we are all deeply entangles. Nature, humanity, technology, They're not separate entities. It is not us versus them or human versus machine. It is a one living network.

And embracing this connection is the only way to solve a wicked problems. Let this light be my final message. I hope it shines not just on our daughter, but on our shared vision. By standing together, we can face the unknown, incredible worlds where we can finally belong. Thank you. That was artist Yun Kong. In a minute, we talk about her process,

the lack of funding for art here in the U.S., and why she thinks art is imperative for people so that they feel less nihilistic about their future. Yun is so lovely and thoughtful. Stay with us. Yun Kong, where are we finding you today? I am based in Seoul, Korea. And I'm in my studio.

Is that in downtown Seoul or where? Yes. It's very at the heart of Seoul. It's called It Taiwan. It's very dynamic area of Seoul. Half of the people is international. It's a very cool vibe. When I come visit you, that's where we're.

Of course. So let's start by talking about how you started your TED Talk. So the piece that you start with, vanishing. references the rapid loss of species on our planet. The number is infathomable. The UN reports that something like 25% of plant and animal species face extinction this century. Yes.

The human mind cannot sort of comprehend that. And even if you do, what are we, you know, little old me, what am I supposed to do? It's almost too much to bear. That's true. And that is what you are trying to do, right, to connect us to problems that almost feel too big to comprehend. Yes. We have so many different complicated problems.

For example, climate change is so massive and it's happening so differently in every part of the earth. So some people really have to fight climate change every day in their life. Some people don't. And on the other hand, there's an AI, and it's so fast, we cannot even fathom it. We are the reason for all these complicated problems. We made it, but we don't even know what is happening, how to understand it, how to solve the problems. So the first thing I believe that we could do is make the problems ours. And to do that, I think we need to feel it.

We need to sense it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You use the term wicked problem. That's actually an old phrase, right, from the 70s, from these design theorists, that the idea is, like, all of these different problems together make us feel that we can't even conceptualize or feel these problems, just exactly what is happening to us. Mm. Yeah. I think that notion is still valid, even much more valid than before, because of the AI particularly.

For me, the reason why I found wicked problems interesting is that when we talk about, when we think about, when we study about the climate change and AI, unfeathomable problems of our time, we first approach is that we need to study it, we need to research it. But I think slightly different. I think we first need to sense it. we first need to feel it so that we can study it. So that we can care. Exactly.

Exactly. We need to feel that first. But we just jump onto the, we have to study it, we have to tackle the problems. How can we do that? So there's a huge gap. Is that why you got into art to begin with? Not really. I was trained as a painter for such a long time.

I had to deal with two-dimensional flat surface for a long time. But then I thought that, ah, maybe this is not my perfect medium. So I slowly move on to video, analog, and then to digital, and then to AI now. So learning new technology is kind of expending my knowledge. At the same time, it somehow makes me really aware of, you know, so technology is a huge part of the society. So for me, using this technology as, my medium means that I am very sensitive to our society in a way.

Then I wondered, because of the technology, there's a carbons and then climate change. So human is the best entity on the Earth, or are we the worst entity of the Earth? So, you know, that kind of question goes on and on and on. Can we talk about passage of water and the story behind this piece of art? which is also a story about data. Yeah. So the Google Art and Culture is a massive nonprofit institution under Google. And they have a very small but special project called Heart Speed of the Earth.

They invite an artist and they give us a mission. The mission is really simple. You need to talk about whatever climate change issue. You need to, you know, rigorously grounded on data. And then you need to launch your projects under the Google's platform, meaning I have to make web arts. We decided to talk about freshwater. And then when NASA joined the team,

because they have a satellite that captures the freshwater data. But, you know, the data is just numbers and numbers. It doesn't speak for itself. So how can I? give the data a form. You know, the data is everywhere, but I don't think the data is accessible to everyone. How can I weave the story?

So that's my kind of fundamental role here as an artist. So at the time that I made this project was 2023. So let's say in 2002, there was a fair balance between the water circulation. But in 2022, we are losing fresh water so fast. So watching the visualization makes me somehow sad. So then it naturally leads you to think about it. Oh my God, what should we do?

The passage of water has four different segments. And the very large segments, it's actually the game. I use a game engine to give us, a couple of freshwater protection, how can I say, methods, technologies, so that the audience, the users can kind of have a hope. We brought it to the COP28 Dubai with the UN. So it has a physical exhibition and online exhibition at the same time. How did people respond at that climate conference?

Yeah. It changed entirely. my thought about arts before that project after the project. So no one expects to see an arts work there. This cope is nothing to do with art.

And of course in the first day, no one's visiting our exhibition. But in the second day, third day there was a cue. People really wanted to see this experience. And our audience is not arts lovers.

There is no collectors. There's no arts people, but whole climate scientist, policymakers, indigenous people, our exhibition became the platform. People share their ideas, people talking about the freshwater crisis. Maybe this is something that arts can do, you know, it's working as a creative platform so we can communicate each other, we can connect to each other. So it changes part of me as an artist in a very positive way. I'm going to take a quick break, and then we'll be right back. Let's turn the conversation to your more recent work, which is to do with AI, which, honestly, of all the things that we've discussed, to me, is the least tangible and hardest for people to wrap their heads around. What was the point for you that you were like, okay, it's time to figure out how we get people to connect with their bodies, with their senses to this.

invisible force in their lives. For me, the reason why I actively started tackling the AI recently is because of the user interface, the big tech products. So before the chat GP4, the AI was still very difficult. You have to have a proper coding knowledge,

you have to have a proper experience so that you can train the model. But now, everything is just at our finger. tips. We just need to type it. So it removes all the barrier. And then it makes me so, so scary. And people start to using AI like a chatbot every day. So I thought that, well, something's going wrong. The technology is way much more complicated than any other technology over time. But we don't know it. We don't talk about it. What is what is going on behind the clean user interface?

we should talk about it. And then that's the very moment we start to use the term blockbox. What do you think the danger is if people don't connect or if they have this sort of feeling that it's magic, that it's beyond their understanding? Why do you find that worrying? Yeah, because it's a huge business, huge industry. Everybody can buy it, everybody can subscribe it.

But if you don't know about what is going, on behind that interface, we start to buy the sugar-coded marketing, how can I say, the product. The salesmanship, yes. Exactly. For example, when the big tech corporate sell their Gen AI services, for example, they always say create something. Be an artist.

You could be creative person. But if you start to buy AI is creative, then it's a very good. very dangerous. They are not creative. They're just generative. But it's such a subscription services. You just click the service. You can buy it. You start to use it. You start to believe that you becoming creative. Yep. But generating images and sounds and video, it doesn't mean that you become creative. But if you understand the logic of AI, if you understand the logic of LLM, you start to realize that, oh, they are not creative. They're just like optimization machine. We need to build our own literacy so that we can make the right decision, okay, I need

this tool here, I need this tool there, and I don't need this tool here because blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what I believe, where the agency starts coming back. The piece that you showed on the TED stage. The one that is sort of neural modeling, which is based tangentially on how the human brain works, it kind of looks beautiful because it's graphics changing and morphing. And if you didn't know what it was, you would think, oh, this is beautiful geometric shapes that are slowly getting connected and more connected and different and growing bigger and lots more shapes. And then you start to realize that this is inputs of information that are getting connected to each other and creating new forms, quite well.

literally on the screen in front of you. And then those merge together and create other new forms. It's almost like people say creativity is taking one idea and another and then smashing them together to create something new. This is almost literally seeing the graphic representation of an idea connecting to another one. It's like you're seeing creativity in geometric form growing across the screen. Yes.

And on the one hand, it's very beautiful. And on the other hand, it's almost like, It's happening so fast and in front of your eyes that, you know, the human brain doesn't work as fast as this. So it feels a little terrifying. Yeah, that is so true. But you know what? The reality, the speed is unfathomably faster than the actual artwork. So particularly for SOTA, the state of the art project.

For example, we invited so many people, like AI scientists, they loved the project. But sometimes people found it difficult to understand because they haven't even imagined the inside of the black box. But that's the point. We need to see it first. Because without this artwork, not just my art work, without these kind of artwork, we don't even know. You say we don't even know.

And what I guess I love about this is like if we don't, not only do we not know, we also stop asking. Exactly. And I love that this made me be like, oh, okay, you know, the black box, this idea that we don't know how the technology works. Maybe even the coders don't know how the technology works. They don't even know anymore. Yeah, they don't even know anymore. But there's something about seeing it with your eyes and feeling how it changes your mood and trying, just attempting to conceptualize it.

And the feeling of beauty combined with fear, it's easy not to think about AI and just use the models and then move on with your day. But I think there's something about, like, this is what the purpose of art is, right? Yes, indeed. Yes. Because it's not about giving you the answer, but more like giving you questions. And this is our time. We're already really, really deeply entangled with technology.

We opened the block box. We opened the Pandora's box. We created it, but we don't know how to deal with it. So it's a massive situation. I mean, everything starts from sensing it, knowing it, learning it, so that we can have our own way of dealing it. And then I believe arts can help it. You mentioned briefly how the technologists who saw your AI artwork loved how correct it was

and specific it was. Can you tell me more about how people in the tech world respond to your work? I think scientists, engineers, artists, writers, journalists, whatever the job is. It seems like everybody's doing a very different job. But at the end of the day, I think we want to communicate. The tech people think my work is interesting because they think I communicate in a very different way using the same knowledge. We analyze same satellite data,

but they write paper, but I make artwork. So we have to use different senses. We have to use different part of the brain to process what is going on in front of my eyes. At the end of the day, we want to send the message to the world. But I believe there's a only thing that creativity can do. And if it's an arts, if it's a design, if it's an architect, whatever that is, I'm really happy to do it so that we can see the unseen side of the world,

the invisible part of the world. Sometimes it's a climate change. Sometimes it's an unfathomable AI. Whatever that is, it will change, but I will keep trying to put the invisible visible, making visceral experiences so that we can start to sense it. You know, it was very clear with your freshwater piece, the data there, climate change. There was a message which was, this is unacceptable, where clearly there needs to be action.

But does your AI work have the same sort of political or activist been? What are regular people supposed to do with this information about AI? Well, I really love that question. the water project has a clear ending. We need to protect the fresh water. We have to make an action. But then AI projects are slightly different because it is progress,

but at the same time, it's a regression. So it's ambiguous in a way. I don't give them an answer. It's rather having an opportunity to think about it. How do you want to design your life with AI? I mean, it sounds like I hear your own feelings of... Exactly. Inflictiveness, because you used AI to make the artwork about AI, right?

Yes. And so that must have been pretty cool and amazing. But at the same time, you know, you've done a lot of work and environmental issues. You know the resources that is required to run the AI. Yeah. And then it sounds like you are... curious about a symbiotic relationship with AI, but also cautious and skeptical and unsure. It is so true. I'm exactly like a huge excitement, great anxiety, all kind of entangled inside of me.

That's the reason why my artwork is also fluctuate. Positive, negative, you know, lighting and darkness. because this is the technology we built. So we want to share that feeling together. And I want to believe that we still have an opportunity to make decisions, proper decisions, proper time, so that we can progress together. Behind the scenes, just so you know, working with her, Yun is exacting. She presented three different versions of her talk to us, complete with Slash,

and demos, she travels with a team of engineers that she needs to install the lights and lasers that are part of her work. But there is also just something so transportive about Yi Yun herself. It is like she is visiting us from the future, a benevolent sage who, through her art, takes us out of the moment, the ordinary details, and gives us a philosophical reminder of how beautiful and strange this world is and how it's up to us humans to preserve it. Thank you, Yian. That was Yian Kong at TED 2026 in conversation with me, Manushe Zamorodi. Please go check out Yune's full talk at ted.com.

Thank you so much for being here. Stick around for tomorrow on the final episode of this special series about tech, health, and humanity, a father's story about accepting what innovation could and could not do for his child's health. And how he thinks we all need to think about this time we have here on Earth. His story will change you. That's it for today. If you're curious about Ted's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. Ted Talks Daily is a podcast from Ted.

This episode was produced by Matthew Cloutier, Lucy Little, and Rachel Faulkner White. It was edited by Alejandra Salazar, with editing support from Maggie Bishop, Ban Ban Chang, Sanaz Meskampore, and me. Youeun's talk was fact-checked by the TED Research Team. Our Conversation was fact-checked by Lucy Little, and this episode was mixed by Matthew Polis. The TED Talks Daily team includes Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Tobner, and Tanzika, Sung-Marni-Vong. With support from Daniela Ballerzzo, Valentina, Bo Hanini, Ban-Ban-Chang, and Laini. lot. Special thanks to Sanaz Mechkinfor and my team at NPR's TED Radio Hour for all their help on this special takeover and to my co-curator at TED 20206, a very special thank you to David

Bielo. You can hear more from these speakers on the TED Radio Hour with episodes coming out throughout the summer. I'm Manusia Zamorodi. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea and conversation for your feed. Thank you so much for listening.