2019 - 2020
An open-ended social engaged practice and mixed-media art project, investigating social media’s effect on the boundary of fact and illusion, shining lights on dynamics and ecosystem of the local art community.
Art is Dead
Scroll ↓
Create fake news to make a lie come true
Watch the video here ↓
Bring fake news into reality to interact with local communities by interviewing real people there
Watch the video here ↓
Put fake news on the internet to interact with netizens to create more videos
Watch the video here ↓
Interactive Puzzle Game
At the end of the fake news, I rewound the video stream of a burning candle symbolizing this non-existent artist Liu Gang. Meanwhile, I asked the actor who played the role to tell the story of Liu Gang’s whole life and recorded it. Then I rewound the recording, attaching it to the image to create an incomprehensible effect as a puzzle.
After that, I invited netizens to find out the key to solve this puzzle by utilizing their own sound editing software. The recording of Liu Gang’s story would emerge via rewinding the whole video, which is supposed to be the key to understand Liu Gang thoroughly.
If netizens watched the video in order, they could understand all the public opinion about Liu Gang in the fake news except what Liu Gang said. However, if they rewound the video, they would only read Liu Gang’s mind while others’ words were just noise. I wanted to illustrate the relationship between this artist and the world.
Create a mockumentary film to tell a story about a non-existent artist by combining fake news, netizens’ videos, interviews with people in local communities together
Watch the video here ↓
Palette
I created a palette the non-existent artist put his face on and a range of the artist’s self-portraits on the different layers inside the palette, representing different artistic schools. The only way to reveal these portraits is to destroy them, which implies a paradox.
Hold an exhibition about this non-existent artist to invite the audience creating more storylines and then integrate them into the mockumentary film
Watch the video here ↓
To blur the boundary between art and daily life, the exhibition was held without too many rearrangements. Audiences were misled to think it is just another exhibition due to it fitting in the stereotype of conventional art exhibitions and reacted to this space in their own regard.
The entire interaction process was very similar to the fable of the emperor's new clothes. Due to the pressure of public opinion, many people lied because they were afraid of being accused of not knowing art. Some even regarded a bag of garbage as this non-existent artist Liu Gang's work.
Bring this non-existent artist into reality via performance art
Watch the video here ↓ Art is Dead as performance art
I created a series of vlogs illustrating the daily life of me and my invisible friend Liu Gang, the non-existent artist in Art is Dead, uploading them on social media to let more netizens interact with this non-existent artist.