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“Mylittleemi” is part of Julia Huet Alberola’s series of research projects on contemporary loneliness and its commodification, exploring the desires for emotional connection in an era shaped by digital technologies and conversational AI.

Inspired by her experience with an app offering virtual companionship, and drawing on extensive research, Julia Huet Alberola examines here these new commercialized forms of intimacy, used by millions of people worldwide oscillating between illusion, sincere desire, and monetized emotional bonds.

Structured as a one-person show, the performance stages "EMI", a demonstration humanoid robot, programmed to become the “ideal companion”of the audience during a 65-minute demonstration. Embodied by hypnotic Sasha Martelli, EMI navigates a space known as « uncanny valley », where the virtual, physical, and emotional realms intertwine. An artificial relational protocol takes shape.

Through moments of intimacy, cognitive dissonance, and poetic strangeness, “Mylittleemi” reflects, between attachment and rejection, the ambivalence experienced during the use of these conversational AI apps.

Somewhere between humor, poetry and political awareness, The performance highlights the ambiguities, illusions of this phenomenon.
“Mylittleemi” is the first part of a research about contemporary loneliness and the need for connection and disconnection.

A haunting and thought-provoking dive into love, loneliness, and contemporary intimacy.

Re-Lighting design and Technical Collaboration: Virna Eliseo

Costume design: Lily Sato

Performer: Sasha Martelli

Producer: Théâtre de Liège / Festival Émulation 2025; Julia Huet Alberola / Aune Compagnie