Ego in the Shell:
Ghost Interrogation
Emi Kusano
In collaboration with
OFFLINE GALLERY
243 Bowery st
New York, NY
October 8th, 2025
6-8PM
©️1995, S/K, B, M
EGO IN THE SHELL is an attempt to overlap the Buddhist philosophy of the self as kū (emptiness) with our modern condition, where AI reproduces and expands human memory. The future depicted in Ghost in the Shell—where boundaries between body and mind, self and other, reality and illusion dissolve—is no longer a work of fiction.
In this exhibition, the artist's own body and facial data are not treated as a confessional subject, but as an impersonal material, like paint on a canvas. They serve as a universal vessel or sample, reflecting the nature of the self in our time.
The inquiry here is not to lament the absence of a "ghost" (ego). Instead, it adopts the Buddhist perspective of engi (dependent origination), where the self does not exist in isolation but is a transient, "empty" phenomenon, conditionally arising through its relationships with others. From this standpoint, the exhibition interrogates how algorithmic reproduction makes this "empty vessel" of the self visible and rewrites our very sense of lived experience.
The exhibition is structured to deliberately guide the viewer's consciousness. Beginning with anonymous crowds, it delves into the singular self, then into the memories of a personal history, and culminates in a confrontation with a self that is not a self. It is an experience designed to transform a reflection on a universal social issue into an intimate inquiry into the viewer's own personal memory.
Emi Kusano
©️1995 Shirow Masamune/KODANSHA・BANDAI VISUAL・MANGA ENTERTAINMENT. All Rights Reserved.
Ego in the shell:
Singular Yet Divisible
Release Details
0.5 ETH (Buy Now; Digital only)
.11 eth (13x19 Premium Stock Print)
+ Shipping fees covered by collector
This self-portrait presents a "singular self" in contrast to the anonymity of the crowd. Yet, even this "one" can be easily divided and distributed through the gaze of others or by algorithms. The artist inscribes this paradox of being "singular, yet shared" onto her own image.
Here, the artist re-enacts the role of Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. This is not a mere costume imitation but an attempt to take on the identity of a cybernetic being through her own body. Kusano is simultaneously "herself" and a "vessel for a narrative" that traverses reality and fiction.
The "one" here refers not to a numerical unit but to "oneness"—a state where a single entity contains multiple properties, and where the many cohere into a whole. This self-portrait thus visualizes the coexistence of "one and many" in a contemporary context, revealing the fundamental structure of the self, in which the "one" is only constituted through its relationship with the "many."
Ego in the shell:
Empty Yet Multiplying
Release Details
0.15 ETH (Buy Now; Digital only)
.11 eth (13x19 Premium Stock Print)
+ Shipping fees covered by collector
None of the people depicted here exist. They are fictional portraits generated by an AI, referencing the world of the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell and interwoven with fragments of the artist's own facial data, treated as an impersonal material like paint. Inhabiting their cybernetic bodies, these figures exude a sense of drama, sorrow, and intimacy in their quiet, everyday moments.
This series embodies the paradox of being "empty, yet multiplying," as non-existent images proliferate before our eyes. Infinitely replicated and expanded by AI, these images begin to invade our memory as seemingly authentic fragments of a past. In Buddhist thought, the self is not a fixed entity but a transient phenomenon (kū), momentarily formed by a confluence of conditions. How, then, does our self-perception transform when AI statistically generates and multiplies this "empty self"?
Furthermore, fragments of the artist are embedded within these generated figures. They are not entirely other, but rather "anonymous selves" that carry the artist's shadow. Viewers may find a faint sense of déjà vu in the countless faces, just as the artist seeks out scattered pieces of her own identity within them. This reveals a process that points to the Buddhist concept of engi(dependent origination): the self is not a solitary entity, but is conditionally formed only through its relationship with countless others.
Morphing Memory of Aging Shell
Release Details
1.5 ETH
This morphing video was created by building a dataset of the artist's childhood photographs, which a generative AI then supplemented and reconstructed. None of the figures seen here are "actual records"; they are "other possible selves" statistically inferred by the AI. In particular, the images from age 36 onward do not exist in reality and were generated by the algorithm as a "future that might have been."
The video seamlessly transitions from childhood to old age, cycling through a life that includes death. This loop evokes the imagery of reincarnation (rinne) and presents ethical questions about the continuity of memory and the body. At the same time, it is a process through which the artist peers into her "alternate timeline selves" and recovers her "present self" through their fragments. By confronting these non-existent images, the sense of "I am truly here" is, paradoxically, reinforced.