Generative Unravelling

Generative Unravelling is a series of duo interactive, generative installations developed by Mi Lin as part of her PhD research at the Royal College of Art. It reimagines audience engagement with Miao piling embroidery (苗族堆绣) in the postdigital era, integrating textile thinking with gesture-responsive algorithms, projection, and AI-generated visuals.

Hand in Thought invites users to shape visuals through embroidery-inspired motion, while ∞: Thousand Threads renders Miao cosmology as a looping generative system. Both works embody cultural memory as evolving, multisensory experiences.

Mi Lin is a London-based cross-disciplinary artist and PhD researcher at the School of Design, Royal College of Art. Her practice-led research reimagines embodied engagement with Miao embroidery, a textile intangible cultural heritage from southwest China, through immersive, interactive, and generative installations. Working across textile thinking, digital art, AI, projection, gesture tracking, and sound, she explores how cultural memory and living traditions can be activated as spatial experiences of participation and transmission.

Awards and Recognition
• Silver Winner, Multimedia / Interactive Media — 19th Annual International Design Awards (IDA) 2025, 11 December 2025.
• Winner, Student Category: Other Short Films / TV / Film / Animation — Creative Communication Award (C2A) 2025, organised by Farmani Group, 12 November 2025.
• Shortlisted — Design Values Award 2025, organised by Design Society and the Victoria and Albert Museum, 21 April 2025. Final results pending.
• Longlisted — Aesthetica Art Prize 2026, organised by Aesthetica Magazine, March 2026.

Media Features and Support
• Full-page feature — Aesthetica Magazine, Issue 128: Reflection, Artists’ Directory, p. 142, 1 December 2025.
• Featured artist — Aesthetica’s Independent Artists to Watch Newsletter, three-part international mailout series, December 2025.
• Project support — 3:33, EPSRC AI Skills Fund, 2026.

Academic Awards
• Most Likely to Become a Rockstar — Arts and Cultural Management Programme, Pratt Institute, 2018.
• Excellent Graduation Design Award — Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, 2015.
• Excellent Graduation Thesis Award — Tsinghua University, 2015.