Yiru Lu

Yiru is a digital interactive art content creator, innovation consultant, and trends researcher, with a passion for exploring the intersections of art, technology, and society. With a background in architecture and innovation, Yiru's curiosity about the NEXT interaction led her to the Interactive Media Art LowRes Program. There, she continues to delve into her areas of interest, creating future interactive experiences that offer the audience inspiration and enlightenment.

Her notable projects include a remote real-time music performance website, "The Secret Forest", developed during the 2020 quarantine, co-creating with her cohort who is a Mexican Sound Artist, and exploring emotional connections in remote interactions. She also designed "The Miracle of the Breath," a speculative installation challenging meditation practices and societal values. Collaborating with a sound artist, Yiru created "The Fool’s Paradise" and "The Backstage Hacker," multi-sensorial installations pushing the boundaries of imagination and self-expression through direct machine response. Currently working on "Spring Experiment," Yiru examines the "invisible" aspects of nature from Eastern and Western perspectives.

As an innovation consultant, Yiru has held a position at a leading international innovation consulting company, guiding multinational corporations and forward-thinking domestic enterprises to shape their future-oriented strategies. Her pursuit of innovative methodologies led her to co-found a new consulting firm, where she actively applies and iterates new innovation methods in projects, providing fresh value to businesses. Her interest in the topic of innovation in China led her to Shenzhen as well, where she spent over one year observing, interviewing, and collaborating on various business projects. During this time, she diligently documented her findings and transformed her insights into content that IMA LowRes students can experience during the summer.

Driven by a passion for science fiction, Yiru studied future thinking and foresight with renowned futurist Sohail Inayatullah and served on the board of the non-profit organization Futures Studies Community in China. Engaging in discussions with futurists and artists, Yiru contributes to cutting-edge trends and publishes reports on topics such as Future Retail, Future Education, and Future Neighborhoods. She also brings extensive innovation guidance experience, having served as an innovation mentor for the Global Challenge Lab - Climate Action project group in 2022.