Abstract

In this talk, niceaunties will present their ongoing project The Auntieverse, which sits at the intersection of cultural preservation, speculative fiction, and technology. Auntieverse is an imaginary parallel universe filled with aunties living alongside fantastical creatures made of plastic and trash, a whimsical world where recurring characters appear across images and video narratives. Auntieverse grows organically, fed by everyday life, history, pop culture, and current affairs. It holds the potential to be a forever project; anything from the real world can be magnified and transformed into something uplifting within its boundaries.

The Auntieverse uses technology to document and reinterpret this generation of aunties, their behaviours, quirks, and unique forms of expression, before they fade from collective memory. The project acts as a living archive. Many scenes in the Auntieverse do not exist in reality: AI enables their creation, bridging the gap between imagination and visual execution. But the generated images and videos are never the end product: everything is refined using manual editing, compositing, and storytelling techniques, ensuring a balance between technology and artistic intent. AI is not the subject of the work. It is a tool that allows us to ask larger questions about ageing, identity, culture, and the figure of the auntie.

Artist Bio

niceaunties is the moniker of Wenhui Lim, a Singapore-based artist, designer, and public speaker whose practice centers on reimagining the cultural figure of the ‘auntie.’ Through speculative storytelling, she places ageing women at the centre of everyday life, exploring themes of food, beauty, care, and environmental awareness through digital art, mixed media, and technology. Her work draws on surrealism, fantasy, kawaii culture, and nineteen years of architectural training and practice. niceaunties’ Auntieverse project was presented in a TED Talk in Vancouver in 2024, and has since been showcased globally, including exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, the V&A in London during the 2024 Digital Art Weekend, and the AI Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2025. She has collaborated with international brands such as Swatch and L’Oréal, and was commissioned by the City of West Hollywood for the public artwork Aunties on Sunset, displayed on Sunset Boulevard. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, Forbes, and the Straits Times, and her collection Along the River in Auntieverse was presented at Christie’s Art + Tech Conference in New York.

Event Information

• Free and open to the public
• July 13th (Monday)
• 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM ET
• This is an in-person event.

Please note

The event will be conducted in English.