aaajiao <URL is LOVE>
The work is aaajiao has used the Internet as a creative medium in the twelve years from 2008 to 2020
The most representative works also sort out a history of technology use by Chinese millennial artists/online users.
#01
010000.org
.website
2008
"010000" is the first website work created by aaajiao, which explores the possibility of privatization of cyberspace and its conflict with the public. The work originated from a lease contract signed by aaajiao and the curator Li Zhenhua. In 2008, Li Zhenhua rented a cyberspace from the server managed by aaajiao for a lease term of 10,000 years. The work presents a cyclical and diminishing countdown of ten thousand years, and the starting date depends on the region where the user is located. The limited but uncontrollable lease term is placed in a virtual space, the concept of time is thus dispelled, and "010000" becomes an eternal witness.
#02
Cloud.data
Cloud data
.website.app
2009, 2020
In "Cloud.data", clicking according to the prompts on the screen will trigger different sounds, and the clouds will move forward. Since its debut in 2009, the works have appeared in aaajiao's past exhibitions in different media such as audio-visual interactive performances, video installations, and iPhone/iPad applications. The latest version in this exhibition returns to its original form. Exhibited in the screen.
#03
Turritopsis Nutricula
Dawn Lighthouse Jellyfish
.website
2010, 2020
After the death of the jellyfish body of the Dawn Lighthouse jellyfish, it sank to the bottom. The cells will reassemble, producing new jellyfish in the derived polyp. Therefore, this jellyfish is called the "immortal body" in nature. In the work, aaajiao digitizes the natural form of jellyfish, circulating the process of the emergence of life. Since the invention of the Internet, the work responds to how a set of autonomous computing programs will spontaneously generate a living body in the new computer dimension that has been born on it? Can this living body achieve immortality?
#04
The Screen Generation
Screen generation
.website .app
2013, 2020
"Screen Generation" is composed of six works: "Soft", "Repetition", "Hard", "Pure", "Still" and "Noisy". aaajiao presents a new ecosystem formed by us as the "screen generation" and the "screen" as the information carrier. Through the repeated flow of the screen, it is a metaphor for the six personalities of the screen.
"Soft": The first Internet generation has a unique memory of blue.
"Repetition": The artist uses countless mini gifs to construct a space with depth.
"Hard": Inspired by the mismatched subtitles of early YouTube videos and the "beep" that is used to cover up keywords in online programs, the artist combined a video clip of scientist Isaac Asimov talking about robotics. Take double wrong information.
"Pure": All the colors displayed on the screen are configured by the three primary colors of RGB. The artist treats them poetically, using the waves to compare the variable identity of the three primary colors.
"Still": There is a faint light in the screen, simulating the dynamics of the screen when light is leaking.
"Nao": An image composed of white noise runs through decades of screen memory.
#05
Space
space
.website .app
2016, 2020
In 2016, according to the Internet Live Stats website, there were a total of 1.7 billion websites in the world. By 2020, this number has risen to two billion, when in fact only 400 million websites are in operation. The rest of the website is quickly updated because of the technology and media we use every day. aaajiao's work "Space" reflects on the electronic relics and data created by humans in the virtual dimension. The work presents a blank web page, and two useless page navigation bars slide up and down, left and right, "users" seem to be participating, but no effective information can be found.
We can also say: When the website dies.
*It is recommended to browse the work on the computer desktop.
#06
Tennis for None
Unmanned tennis
.website .app
2016, 2020
"Unmanned Tennis" is an appropriation of the earliest video game "Tennis for Two" (1958). "Two Player Tennis" is a simple tennis simulation game in which two players use a joystick to play back and forth on an oscilloscope. The contemporary version of aaajiao removes human participation, replaces players with machine programs, and the game becomes an infinite path of passing. The work questioned the human existence crisis in the phenomenon of the penetration of technology into contemporary life. When human beings are absent, will autonomy and free will be redefined?
#07
Light_7.pmap
.file
2017
A light file named light_7.pmap with a volume of 211KB is imported into the Mental Ray renderer, which can generate caustics and global illumination effects. To some extent, we have light. It is placed on the same page with "Screen Generation: Soft", presenting the conflict between the various forms of light in the computer dimension.
#08
protester/cursor/emoji
Resist/Cursor/Emotion
.website .app
2019
The artist uses emojis commonly found on the Internet to explore the impact of social media communication on the language system in the post-truth era. A steady stream of emoji (Emoji) pops up with the movement of the mouse, but the real emotions are dispelled. When the language of the Internet becomes visualized, and the position precedes the truth, the "user" will become an anonymous "keyboard man".
#09
Party
Climb the ladder
.website. app
2019, 2020
The artist visualized the metadata (Metadata) to create an infinitely derivable space. The audience can operate and wander in the space by themselves, and occasionally encounter the visual and auditory symbols in the large-scale gala events familiar to Chinese audiences. These memories of Chinese characteristics that arouse the "happy atmosphere" and "positive energy" are the artist's control and production of the right to speak in the field of cyberspace ideology.
*It is recommended to browse the work on the computer desktop.
Basic operation:
After the work is loaded, slide the mouse in multiple directions to watch and experience the work space.
#10
protester/cursor/eyes
Resist/Cursor/Eyes
.website .app
2020
The audience can slide out the emoticons representing "eyes" on the screen by themselves. The title of the work concisely expresses the artist's attitude towards current news events, and discusses the impact of social media communication on the language system and the Internet in the post-truth era. The truthful information being covered up.
*All works were completed with team members Liu Xiaoguang, Tan Shuoxin, and Xu Cong.
Artist introduction
aaajiao
, Is the pseudonym of the young artist Xu Wenkai and his fictitious online clone. In 1984 (his birth year happened to be the name of George Orwell's classic prophetic novel), born in Xi'an, one of the oldest cities in China, aaajiao's creation combined a strong dystopian consciousness and reflection on the spirit of literati. Many of his works are devoted to exploring cultural phenomena and political strategies under the influence of new technologies and media, from social media writing and data processing to new aesthetic landscapes under the Internet and mobile media. As a representative of the new generation of media art in the world today, aaajiao has brought China's special social media culture and technology use into the discourse and discussion of international art. aaajiao's works are frequently exhibited in museums and art institutions around the world, such as: "Immaterial/Rematerial: A Brief History of Computer Art", UCCA Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, 2020; "a'a'a'jiao: A ID", Shanghai How Art Museum, 2019; "1989 to Today: Art in the Internet Age", ICA Boston, Boston, USA, 2018; "Not Real", House of Electronic Arts Basel, Switzerland (HeK), 2017; "Body·Media II", Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, 2017; "Shanghai Seeds", 2017; "Take Me Away (I'm Yours)" (curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Jens Hoffmann), Jewish Museum of Art, New York, USA 2016; "The Turn of Time: Art and Speculation in Contemporary Asia", Spencer Art Museum, Kansas, USA, 2016; "Above Pop", Yuz Museum of Art, Shanghai, 2016; "Hacker Space" (by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Amira Gad Curated), Hong Kong K11 Art Foundation Temporary Space and Shanghai Chi K11 Art Museum, 2016; "All-round: Full Control and Speech Control", ZKM Karlsruhe Art and Media Center, Germany, 2015; —2014 International New Media Art Triennial", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2014, etc. His recent solo exhibitions include "a'a'a'jiao: an ID" in Shanghai How Art Museum in 2019, 2016 Chinese Art Center in Manchester, UK, and "Electronic Relics" in OCAT Xi'an Pavilion in the same year. In 2014, he not only won the 3rd Sanya Art Season and Huayu Youth Judging Award, but also shortlisted for the first OCAT Pierre Huber Prize.
