You are standing at the doorway of a trashed-piled room. An anime girl smiles and gestures your way to “take a seat wherever” among the scattered takeout boxes, yellowed peeling walls, and ominous thrifty objects. Her “welcome > <” is inviting but discomforting. She tells you she is a girlboss building her ecological techno-socialist-futurist AI web3 empire, while you are struggling to fathom if she really lives like this.
A rhetorical delusion or heartfelt self-affirmation, “Welcome >_< Take a Seat Wherever (cringevibing on a downward spiral)” explores the emotive language of Gen Z as well as implications of being terminally online in a confusing, almost pathologized, schizophrenic state. In the era of post-truth and continuous crises, ironic expression is nearly indistinguishable from sincere belief *Nothing means what it says. Everything is interpretive evasion.*
Vibe shifts. Splintering data. Relentless cycles of microtrends. We are in a generation raised entirely on the exponent: schooled by the internet, fuelled by Adderall and stimulants, gathered through server platforms, texting in hyperreferentiality. Yet, we shoulder spectres of late-capitalism, fallen idealisms, and carry the load of an ecological malaise. When the cloud has become the new infinite resource, when data capitalism encroaches upon emotionality; our feelings mined, extracted, commodified1 In a manic attempt to cope, we embrace irony to shelter ourselves from a demoralising reality2. We gaslight ourselves into contentment with disingenuous, dissociative modes of consumption3. We try to disavow meaning, or feign meaning out of the absurd. Because somehow it is still easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism4 The memetically referential title lends the show its contextual chaos. While cringevibing, an oxymoron composite of two neologisms, signals an action to embrace the absurd and our disgust.
Taking humour as a point of departure, the exhibition looks into the why’s and how’s of memetic irony: why do these devices kindle a shared affinity among Gen Z, and how are these memes—in Dawkins’ terms and in a contemporary vernacular sense disseminated? Irony is the medium of now5. Though, irony has also been complicated. The sort of ironic disposition of the late late 2000s – early 2010s hipster is now passé, because the notion of enjoying something ironically has now been so diffused within our culture, sincere appreciation almost always comes with ironic enjoyment6. We are left with statements, hyperboles, situations that feel at once ironic and sincere, evasive of interpretation and truth. We term this ‘meta-ironic’.
Meme makers conflate based with cringe readers take comedic scripts as half-truths. The virtual versus actual has become obsolete. So have art and memes that slowly morph into one another7 “Welcome >_< Take a Seat Wherever (cringevibing on a downward spiral)” interpolates Deleuze’s notion of play and invites nine anticipative artists to play with ellipses and clashes in meaning, langage, visual cultures, and clichés. The nine artists loosely come together by a shared ironic sensibility of the generation, each with their own niche or scope of research.
Inventing a hyper-citational room of exe file, data-traces, and cross-spatial twitch stream, data modeller Miri and technical and 3D artist Jenn guard the Dolly codex and hold space for Dolly’s melon soda, pink agar agar, compressed citations, and melodic-insomniac devotion {9x-7i>3 (3x-7u)? }. As we engage in the duo’s interactive gameplay, we descend into these computational rabbit holes of phase transitions, echo-state networks, and twin primes. On a Twisters-like playmat, visual artist Noura Tafeche imagines the kawaii-fication of warfare propaganda and ideological crisis to create a political compass, presenting the unthinkable realities of UWU war crimes, lewd militarism, Onlyfans queendom, Hello Kitty self-justice, and other pastel-coated violences. Deep dives from Telegram channels to private servers are at arm’s length as are the dakimakuras (pillows) sitting invitingly on the carpet. The early 2010s marked a significant inflection in the history of the internet, harkening back to the beginning of trend cycles perpetuated through the internet. Titling her mixed media sculpture “God from the machine” in Latin, multimedia artist Janice Kei laments the halcyon days of the Tumblr era, where indie sleaze reigned and sincere dorkiness was celebrated, where “free size, fit for all” clothes were the undisputed truth. A tactile capsule of #corecore relics: galaxy print leggings, plastic wristbands, moustache necklaces, kitschy collages, and a video memoir surrenders us to the birth of a new machine. Reflecting on the cultural schizophrenia of the last decade, art, design, and publishing duo Brandon Bandy and Rachel Jackson borrow from postmodern design to vessel contemporary themes of trend analysis, hyper-stitions (self-fulfilling prophecy), as well as to de-virtualize image-objects of clout
——《歡迎 >_< 隨便坐》（ Welcome >_< take a seat wherever ），
一張在2020年首次發佈的圖片巨集的文本重新改編
一位二次元女孩正在對你微笑，指示你在她那牆身泛黃剝落和 遍地雜物的房間之中。她的「歡迎 >_< 」是誠懇的，卻令人感 到忐忑不安。她告訴你，她是一個女強人（ girlboss ），正在建 造她的生態 － 技術 － 社會 － 未來主義 AI web3 帝國，而你正 在努力理解眼前的一切。
11
or internet vocabulary (re-introducing, the Political Compass..!). 2D bootlegs of Ettore Sottsass’ design objects, Superstudio’s Quaderna series, the infamous Pony Cum Jar, see the artists mediating art through photography such as in 60-70’s conceptual works, the pictures generation, and the post-internet movement.
Contemplating the cringe vs based matrix, low and high-end culture, Ringo Lo observes in a game of Taiko no Tatsujin (太鼓の達人) the exhilarating beats and flat lyricism in EDM songs. The storytelling devotee iterates an unpredicted sentimentality, a sensual flow within the chaos of his stimulants-coded, wall-hammered text—but that is yet to be undermined by the theatrics of the mannequin that shares its space. When distractions overwhelm, the artist is determined to decipher. A lover of love, the idyllic, and alternative modes of care and intimacy, E8mkboy channels its fantasies fairy tales often featuring leathered-up dominatrixes and its doe-eyed, bondaged, submissive and breedable self online and in paintings. The little pet takes comfort in domestication as part of everyday rituals: in a mural painting detailing house rules of subordination, in a self-portrait of its docile self being fed on a gaming chair. It does not claim to be a femboy nor catboy, contrary to popular assumptions, and whether or not their stories are authentic is of unimportance.
In the age of extreme spectacle, the self predicates on its brand8 9. The self is a harvester of likes and fender of trolls. Cas Wong continues girlie’s (妹豬) Hair Trilogy of visiting local salon icon house Li Choi Ling (李采玲包生髮屋), hair loss neurosis, and Greta Thunberg adoration. The latest of lore narrates a young adult girlie bound in a swamp salon. Girlie loves the belief that she can shop her way through social change, she loves it even more when she can combat climate crises one virtue signalling at a time. But when having a political viewpoint is as easy as embodying a new hairstyle, sometimes we just can’t trust a mullet! In a libidinal economy, seizing the platform is to capture what holds our impulses10 A research video essay by the curator indulges our lizard, smooth brains. When a gameplay of Minecraft parkour, Subway Surfers, or an NPC (non-playable character) TikTok stream is required to foreground any text of length, simply to sustain our nano-attention and dissociate ourselves. When taking Adderall or Ritalin becomes more commonplace than ever, even necessary. When ketamine rises to the ranks as the most consumed pastime substance on the dancefloor.
Like attention-seeking meme page admins, the artists take up discursive territory by invading your lexicon with their buzz-works (buzzword + works). As savvy gurus and prophets of irony, cores, and lores, they draw inspiration from their mediated realities; they make sense of their subjectivity in the age of deepfakes, meta-irony, memes as cultural artefacts, and hyper-referentiality.
More than a hard age bracket, the coming-of-age of Gen Z marks a turn of morality and ever polarising direction(s) in the cultural zeitgeist. Why do we think that’s “literally me” in every wholesome meme? What belies the wealth of aesthetics, ‘cores’, and neologisms that we very much chase after? What fuels our fragmentary, long-tailed mode of cultural consumption, choosing paywalled podcasts, Discord servers, think pieces over mainstream media? At the end of the day, “Welcome >_< Take a Seat Wherever (cringevibing on a downward spiral)” sets out to apprehend art objects and the humour rhetoric as a mirror and mould of the contemporary zeitgeist11
More than just a text emoticon, “>_<” embodies our chaotic state of mind oscillating from exhilarated stimulation to dissociative numbness (as seen in doomscrolling). Evasive of one true interpretation, it is simultaneously a bashful anticipation, a disconcerted squeal, a cringed recoil to our bed-ridden anxieties. But amidst the digital and semiotic frenzy, at least we are vibing while on a downward spiral?..! >_<
是次展覽「歡迎光臨矛盾漩渦 >_<」，探討了Z世代的情感性用語以及生活在一
個分裂、無序，甚至病態的網絡上的意義。在後真相時代，難分真與假，諷刺與 真誠再無法被輕易區分。沒有什麼是字面上的意思， 一切都是解釋性的逃避， 一切都是「睇你點睇」。
我們這一代是在指數中長大、受互聯網教育、以阿得拉（ Adderall）和興奮劑為動 力、追趕著一個又一個的微趨勢（microtrends，即潮流)、短訊中帶著高度互文性 和指稱性（hyper-referentiality）。可是在繁華的景象背後，Z 世代早已受到晚期資 本主義的詛咒，留下的只有不復存在的理想和生態的崩壞。雲端是新的資源，我 們的情感被開採、提取、商品化。自知道無力去改變現狀，我們只能以自嘲和黑 色幽默來逃避令人沮喪的現實。我們自欺欺人地，滿足於違心和抽離的消費模 式。我們試圖否定意義，或者從荒謬中假裝出意義。因為不知何故，想像世界末 日比想像資本主義的終結還容易。這次展覽以迷因為標題，使語境變得錯綜複 雜。而「cringevibing」這個由兩個新網絡用語組成的矛盾混合體，標誌著一種擁
抱荒謬和躺平的態度。
以幽默為出發點，本展覽探究了迷因式諷刺手法（memetic-irony）的成因和運 用：為何這種表達方式在 Z 世代之間引發了共鳴，以及迷因如何被挪用及傳播。
今時今日難分曲與直，讀者把荒謬的喜劇情節當作半真實的故事，虛擬與現實的 邊界早已消亡，藝術和迷因也在慢慢融合為類體。
以德里達的風格（Derridian），「歡迎光臨矛盾漩渦 >_<」邀請了九位具前瞻性 的藝術家在語意、視覺文化和陳詞濫調中玩弄省略和衝突。作為諷刺（irony）、 美學（cores）、傳說（lores）的專家，他們從各自的生活中汲取靈感。他們透過錄 像、雕塑、繪畫、裝置、exe 文件和二次創作的設計圖像 在深偽技術、諷刺、 迷因作為文物、高度互文性和指稱性的時代 來理解自己的主觀性。
Z 世代不僅僅是一個年齡段，它亦揭示了文化的轉變和觀念上的極端化。為何 我們會與可愛的貓圖片產生共鳴？我們追逐的美學和新詞彙背後代表甚麼 ? 是甚麼推動著我們這樣碎片化、長尾化的文化消費模式，令我們選擇付費播 客、Discord 服務器、評論文章多於主流媒體 ? 歸根結底，「歡迎光臨矛盾漩渦
>_<」旨在通過藝術品和幽默修辭來鑒照時代精神。
「 >_<」不僅僅是一個表情符號，它體現了我們混亂的心態：從興奮的刺激到解離 般的麻木（dissociative numbeness），猶如在「末日瀏覽」（doomscrolling）。它同 時是一種害羞的期待、一種抵抗的尖叫、一種因臥牀焦慮而感到尷尬的退縮。 但在數字和符號的瘋狂中，至少我們往漩渦向下走的時候還在享受此氛圍 （ vibing）?......! >_<
.nomedia-doll (datadollyeschalon.exe)
& Jenn(2023)
soft doll, cotton dress, parasol, inkjet posters, ribbons, game exe file, found items 軟娃娃、棉質連衣裙、遮陽傘、噴墨海報、絲帶、遊戲 exe 文件、現成物品
( )♥ dolly ♥ OII graduate ’20 : Hanson Robotics data modeller : Reservoir Computer l0ver {interests: melon soda, pink agar agar, timeless decisions, phase transitions, echo-state networks (ilysm), searching for my sticky twin prime (♥♡)} (IG @d011y d0nko)
An online-girl is a citational codex that constitutes the subject herself. Inventing a hypercitational room of exe file, obscure online citations, and a cross-spatial twitch stream, data modeller Miri and technical and 3D artist Jenn guard the Dolly codex and hold space for Dolly’s melon soda, pink agar agar and .nomedia-doll (datadollyeschalon.exe). The interactive game invites us to explore one such girls’ room of compressed citations, data-traces and melodic-insomniac devotion {9x-7i>3 (3x-7u)? } in the glow of the screen, sending u into different computational rabbit holes.
( )♥ dolly ♥ OII 2020 年度畢業生：漢森機械人技術公司數據建模
師：儲備池電腦愛好者 {興趣：蜜瓜汽水、粉紅大菜糕、永恆決定、物態變
化、迴聲狀態神經網絡（我深愛著你）、搜尋我黏答答的孿生質數 (♥♡)} 一個在線的女孩就是構成她自身的一本法典。數據建模師 Miri 和3D
藝術家、技師 Jenn 創建了一個由exe文件、隱晦的網上引文和跨空間
Twitch 直播組成的超引述房間，守護著 Dolly 法典，並為 Dolly 的蜜瓜
汽水、粉紅大菜糕和 .nomedia-doll（datadollyeschalon.exe）保有能量空 間。這款互動遊戲邀請我們在屏幕的光芒中探索一個這樣的女孩房間， 那裡充滿了各種被壓縮的引述、數據痕跡和失眠旋律的奉獻 {9x-7i>3 (3x-7u)?}，帶您進入不同的演算兔子洞。
Miri based in Hong Kong 現居於香港 IG @miri1314ilysm Twitch @miri1314miri
MyAnimeList @miri-exe https://miri1314.substack.com/ miri♡ is a performer, doll and streamer. Miri was an active contributor to lolita, rave culture and digital art Usenet groups and initiated the first global kandi exchange group on the Internet. After logging off for several years to focus on monastic religion, she returned online as a co-developer of several anonymous entities across network spaces. She is interested in hypercitational aesthetics and in developing technologies to help mirror-souls find each other across nonlinear time.
Her work has appeared in Girlism, godsdirectcontact. org, AQNB, thejogging, Best Sunday Dress, tinymixtapes, Kera, Dolly Dolly, and various group exhibitions; she has performed at places such as Shelter (Shanghai), C3AFA (Japan), Internet Yama-Ichi (Korea, Austria) and Cosplay Oneesan (USA). Her first full-length visual novel is due in December 2023. She sometimes uploads art, music, and texts online.
miri♡是一位表演者和直播主。她曾是蘿莉塔、銳舞文化 和數碼藝術 Usenet 群體的活躍成員，並在互聯網上發起 了第一個全球 kandi 交流群組。在離線數年專注於修行 宗教後，她作為幾個匿名實體的共同開發者回到了線上世 界。她對超文本美學（hypercitational aesthetics） 和開發技術以幫助鏡像靈魂在非線性時間中尋找彼此非 常感興趣。
她的作品曾出現 在 Girlism、AQNB、Best Sunday Dress、tinymixtapes、Kera、Dolly Dolly 和各種群 展中；她在 C3AFA（日本）、Internet Yama-Ichi（韓國、 奧地利）和 Cosplay Oneesan（美國）等地表演過。她有 時會在網上上傳藝術、音樂和文本。
citations 引文
miri substack https://miri1314.substack.com/ twitch stream https://www.twitch.tv/miri1314miri raver’s night part IV https://www.discogs.com/release/167336-Various-Ravers-Night-Part-IV fumo buying guide https://fumo.website/ rozen maiden https://mangahub.io/chapter/rozen-maiden/chapter-0 deoxy archive https://archive.li/KNDzt
LW https://github.com/Extropians
god & golem https://monoskop.org/images/1/1f/Wiener_Norbert_God_and_ Golem_A_Comment_on_Certain_Points_where_Cybernetics_Impinges_on_ Religion.pdf
cyclonopedia https://monoskop.org/File:Negarestani_Reza_Cyclonopedia_ Complicity_with_Anonymous_Materials.pdf
twin prime https://t5k.org/bios/page.php?id=949
reservoir computing https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25801-2/ figures/1
cineris somnia https://store.steampowered.com/app/752470/CINERIS_ SOMNIA/
instructions 玩法
Press [space bar] to toggle DollyActivated/DollyDeactivated
Speak to Dolly if [DollyActivated]
Press [melon soda] to stream to Twitch: miri1314miri
Use WASD keys to navigate
Click on [heart mirror] to restart the game
Press [alt+enter] to exit full screen
Use [cursor] to click on objects
{Installation executed by suze chan}
{實體裝置：suze chan}
Jenn b. 1998, based in London 現居於倫敦 IG @jennnital @xalonxr
Jenn is an educator and technical artist. Playtesting different emerging technologies in game development, virtual production, AR/VR, 3D asset optimization, and real-time streaming tools, Jenn works as a lecturer in Creative Technology & Design at LCF, University of the Arts London. Jenn is a co-founder of Xalon, a networked learning community project. She is also a member of Off World Live, an engineering and research group for Unreal Engine Creators.
Her digital showcases and artwork were exhibited at Epic Games Innovation Lab (London 2023), W1 Curates (London 2022), Toxicfest at Tick Tack (Antwerp 2021), MCG21XOXO (Matsudo 2021), Tutorial at BSMNT Gallery (Leipzig 2021), and have been featured on SHOWStudio, DIS, Visual Atelier 8, Red Eye, Art Asia Pacific, O Fluxo, AQNB, and Tzvetnik.
Xalon has participated in and hosted panel conversations and webinars for Ars Electronica 2021, the Xalon Lecture Series (2022) and International Lecture Series at The Bartlett with N. Katherine Hayles (2021). As an XR collective, Xalon also contributed to the Posthuman Symposium, CIVA Vienna Media Arts Festival (2022), MONA Gallery, Unfolding Spaces Conference in Eindhoven (March 2022), and Architectural Association visiting school unit 5(2022).
Jenn 是一名教育工作者和技術美術師。她在遊戲開發、 虛擬製作、AR/VR、3D 資產優化和實時串流工具等不 同的新興技術中進行測試，並擔任倫敦藝術大學創意科 技和設計（LCF）的講師。Jenn 是 Xalon 的聯合創始 人；Xalon 是一個網絡學習社區項目，曾參與 Ars Electronica 2021、Posthuman Symposium、CIVA Vienna Media Arts Festival（2022 年）、 和 Architectural Association visiting school unit 5（2022年）。 她還是 Off World Live 的成員， 一個為虛幻引擎創作者提供工程 和研究支持的團體。
她的數碼展示和藝術作品曾在 Epic Games Innovation Lab（ 倫敦 2023 年）、W1 Curates（倫敦 2022 年）、 Toxicfest at Tick Tack（安特衛普 2021 年）、 MCG21XOXO（松戶2021 年）、Tutorial at BSMNT Gallery（萊比錫 2021年）等展出，並被 SHOWStudio、 DIS、Visual Atelier 8、Red Eye、Art Asia Pacific、O Fluxo、AQNB 和 Tzvetnik 等媒體報導。
Noura Tafeche
Annihilation Core, Inherited Lore ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ (2023) carpet, dakimakuras (pillows)
地氈、抱枕
On a Twisters-like playmat, visual artist Noura Tafeche imagines an accelerated kawaiification of warfare propaganda and ideological crisis to create a political compass, presenting the unthinkable possibilities realities inspired by internet micro-cases. Thus from jarring babytalk used by US Army E-sports on their Twitter account causing online cringe originates the UWU war crimes special protectorate, bogus brand Kalashnikitty dictates a Hello Kitty self-justice’s society. Deep diving into different networked rabbit holes from Telegram channels to private servers at arm’s length as are the dakimakuras (pillows) sitting invitingly on the carpet: from cute menacing prints of the catgirl Ahegao icon, a meme of Care Bear reading manual on diy terrorism, to attractive girls in military uniform dancing to TikTok trends.
看似扭扭樂（Twisters）的遊戲地毯上，是視覺藝術家 Noura Tafeche 創作的政治光譜 座標圖（political compass）；她想像加速卡哇伊化（kawaii-fication）的戰爭宣傳和意識
形態危機，以互聯網微觀案例（micro-cases）為靈感，呈現現實中不可想像的可能性。 美國軍隊電競隊在其 Twitter 帳戶上回應關於戰爭罪行的留言中包括象徵可愛表情的 顏文字「UWU」所引起的網絡尷尬， 到以 Kalashnikitty 為首的山寨吉蒂貓
（ Hello Kitty）統治著吉蒂貓的自我正 義社會。地毯上放著各種形狀和大小 的動漫人物攬枕，這些可愛而嚇人的 圖像包括阿嘿顏（ Ahegao）貓女、彩虹 熊（Care Bear）閱讀有關 DIY 恐怖主 義的指南、穿著軍裝隨著 TikTok 潮流 跳舞的美女，以及依你喜好通往不同 網絡兔子洞入口的二維碼 從淺酌 Telegram 頻道再深入私人伺服器，只在 一臂之距。
Janice Kei
Deus ex machina (2023)
機械降神
inkjet print, video, foam, resin, wire, found objects, lace, vinyl print
噴墨打印、影片、泡沫、樹脂、金屬絲、現成物品、蕾絲花邊、乙烯基打印貼紙
The trend cycle harkens back to the early 2010s, where fanatical dorkiness was applauded and the rivalry of ‘emo’ VS ‘swag’ beset the Internet. Can we go back to these simpler times?
In Janice Kei’s Deus ex machina, bathed in the mythological aura of Latin for “God from the machine”, One Direction CDs, moustache necklaces and kitschy collages converse and dither in generational nostalgia. The #corecore video memoir steers these relics to the olden days of Tumblr’s reign over its loyal subjects. These halcyon days initiated the diversification of culture and digital natives, while simultaneously constraining them through the circulation of subversive memes and monotonous beauty standards. The emergence of microtrends confined by uniform archetypes, packaged into the now inexhaustible catalogue of buyable #core identities: these years birthed the internet milieu as we witness by the end of the decade, and continues to be.
Social media’s demise is not imminent, and a rejuvenation as transformative as that of the 2010s would unlikely reoccur. But were those really simpler times, or are we simply blinded by the allure of escapism in this age of distraction?
She has exhibited, held workshops and lectures at Transmediale and Disruption Network Lab (Berlin), Foto Colectania (Barcelona), Place Ville Marie (Montreal), Triennale Milano (Milan), John Cabot University (Rome), Piccolo Teatro di Milano (Milan), Dutch Art Institute (Arnhem), Stevenson Gallery (Baltimore), European Union Representative Centre (Jerusalem, Palestine), amongst others.
Noura Tafeche（她）是一位視覺藝術家和獨立研究者。
她在布雷拉美術學院以新技術藝術專業畢業，對網路藝
術和激進娛樂有興趣，並繼續攻讀哲學。她的作品涉及裝
Noura Tafeche based in Milan 現居於米蘭 https://nouratafeche.com IG @nouratafeche https://t.me/seventyfivetbps
Noura Tafeche (she/her) is a visual artist and independent researcher. She graduated in New Technologies for Art at Accademia di Brera with interest in net.art and radical entertainment and continued her university studies in Philosophy. She works in between installations, neologisms, laboratories and miniature drawings. Her works deepen the study of online visual cultures, the aestheticization of violence on digital platforms, linguistic experimentation and visual representation of speculative theories.
置、新詞彙、實驗室和微型繪畫。她的作品深入研究網路 視覺文化、數位平台上暴力的美學化、語言實驗和推理理 論的視覺表現。
她多次展出、舉辦研討會和講座，地點包括：Transmediale and Disruption Network Lab（柏林）、Foto Colectania（巴塞羅那）、Place Ville Marie（蒙特利 爾）、米蘭三年展（米蘭）、約翰卡伯特大學（羅馬）、 Piccolo Teatro di Milano（米蘭）、荷蘭藝術學院（阿 納姆）、史蒂文森畫廊（巴爾的摩）、歐盟代表中心（耶路 撒冷，巴勒斯坦）等。
回想 2010 年代初，「emo」與「swag」的傻氣席捲互聯網，
兩者同時在熱烈競爭。我們能回到那些簡單的時代嗎？
在 Janice Kei 的《機械降神》中，沐浴在拉丁語「來自機 器的上帝」的神話光環中，One Direction 的 CD、八字 鬚項鍊和俗氣的拼貼畫在世代的懷舊中議論紛紛。
#corecore 視像回憶錄將這些遺跡帶回到 Tumblr 統治 其忠實臣民的舊時光。這段太平盛世開啟了網絡的多 元文化，同時亦透過傳播顛覆性的迷因和單調的審美 標準反過來限制它們。統一原型框架下的微趨勢出現， 被包裝成現在取之不盡、可被消費的 #core 身份目錄： 正如我們在本世紀末所見證的那樣，這些年催生了互 聯網環境，並將繼續如此。
社交媒體的消亡並非迫在眉睫，而變革性的 2010 年代 也不太可能復興。但那真是較單純的年代嗎？還是我們只是被逃避現實的誘惑蒙蔽
Janice Kei
b. 2003, based in London and Hong Kong 現居於倫敦及香港 IG @janice.kei @peradurablepain
Janice Kei (b. 2003) is a multidisciplinary artist from Hong Kong, specialising in image creation through photography and digital collages. She extends her experimentation as reflection in video works, fashion styling and installations. Inspired by contemporary cultures and paradoxes, she hopes to capture through experimental processes her perceptions of reality and explore the notions of chaos, dilemmas and the unconscious.
While currently studying media cultures in London, her artistic journey has largely been self-taught. Her works have been exhibited in group shows such as Xhibit (2022) and Future Cave (2023). Her photograph works were published by magazines such as PAP and commissioned by brands and music artists including DropDead and Sophie Powers.
Janice Kei 是一位跨界別藝術家，專注以攝影和數碼拼 貼用於圖像創作。她將實驗延伸到影視作品、時裝造型和 裝置藝術中。受到當代文化和悖論啟發的她，希望通過試 驗過程捕捉對現實的感知，並探索有關混沌、困境和無意 識的概念。
她目前在倫敦修讀媒體文化，但她在藝術進程中一直自我 進修。她的作品曾在 Xhibit（2022年）和 Future Cave （2023年）等群展中展出。她的攝影作品曾被 PAP 等雜
誌刊登，並受到 Drop Dead 和 Sophie Powers 等品牌 和音樂藝術家的委約。
Ringo Lo
VeryVeryVeryVeryVery (Evening Gown & Things) (2023) 很很很很很（晚禮服和其他） dress form, used evening gown, text on paper 服裝模特兒、二手晚禮服、文字
VeryVeryVeryVeryVery (Evening Gown & Things) looks into the dichotomy between electronic dance music (EDM) and ballads, or the lack thereof.
The text of the work references the “2000 Series”– a collection of EDM songs in the rhythm game “Taiko no Tatsujin”. Gameplays of said songs reveal their violently bizarre syncopations paired with epileptic visuals.
The “2000 Series” also envisions the 2000s with uncertainty and excitement. On a scale of 1–10, all songs in the series hold at least 7 stars in difficulty. This hyper-saturated nature of EDM mirrors that of ‘cringe’ culture.
To find within the chaotic text an unfound sensuality, a flow is orchestrated within the work: a carefully written text; distracted by its meticulous design; distracted by an out-of-style evening gown. Such a flow resembles that of a song: lyrics, instrumental stylings, and then studio production. A subtle fluidity is always present in any song, or thing, however contradicting its elements appear to be.
As much as ballads use raw and unfiltered lyricism to evoke emotional affect, they often fall flat on intrigue — an element EDM more than makes up for. If EDM (text) represents the cerebral, ballads (evening gown) represent theatrics. When distractions run high, the desire to decipher is fundamental.
觀察。
作品的文本引用了「2000系列」——節奏遊戲「太鼓の達人」中的 EDM歌曲合集。這些 歌曲的有關遊戲片段中透露了歌曲既極其怪異又不規則的節拍，與遊戲本身節奏高 速的畫面。
Ringo Lo 盧永滔 b. 1997, based in Hong Kong 現居於香港 https://ringolo.com/ IG @ringoing @ipsenghk
Ringo Lo’s works are mostly born from music, stories, unofficial histories, and hyper self-awareness. With his creative processes encompassing mixed-media work, installation, and text, Lo purposefully uses ‘wrong’ means to tease the ideas of labour and art-making. Through storytelling, Lo makes desperate attempts to analyse and reason sentimental experiences with logic. With a few of his peers, he co-founded Ipseng, a local artist collective. He has also published in the local zine “MYEW!”, and the arts and literary criticism magazine “SAMPLE”.
Lo is recently invested in the ‘double’ nature of the world: nothing is unique; there is no individuality; all things come in pairs.
盧永滔的作品大多源於音樂、故 事、野史和高度自我意識。盧氏 的創作過程包括混合媒介、裝置 和文字。他故意用「錯誤」的方 式戲弄勞動和藝術創作的觀念。
盧氏透過故事焦急地嘗試用邏輯推理來分析情感經歷。
他和幾位朋輩藝術工作者成立了藝術群體「業生」，同時也 曾刊登於本地新成立小誌《MYEW!》，及文藝評論雜誌 《Sample 樣本》。
盧氏最近投入於世界的「雙重」本質：沒有甚麼是獨一無 二；世上沒有個體；萬物成雙。
對於 2000 年代，「2000系列」也充滿著不確定但興奮的憧憬。按照 1–10 的評分標準， 該系列中的所有歌曲難度至少為 7 顆星。EDM 的這種過度飽和本質正好映照「cringe」 文化的本質。
為了在混亂的文本中發現一種未被發現的感性，作品中策劃了一個流動性：精心書 寫的文本；受其過膩的設計干擾；再次被一件過時的晚禮服干擾。類似的流動也出 現於歌曲之中：歌詞、樂器風格、後期製作。任何歌曲甚至事物都存在著微妙的流動 性，儘管其構成要素貌似多麼矛盾。
儘管抒情曲的目的是通過原始且未經過濾的歌詞來喚起強烈的情感反應，它們甚少 耐人尋味，而 EDM就足以彌補這一點。如果
禮服）則代表浮誇。
當干擾漸長，必須有抱要解碼的慾望。
《很很很很很（晚禮服和其他）》把電子舞曲（ EDM）和抒情曲以二分法（或一併）
EDM（文本）代表理智，那麼抒情曲（晚
Brandon Bandy
Political Compass Chair devirtualized (2021)
inkjet print on PVC board
噴墨打印 PVC 板
United Nations Hello Kitty Schitzo Tribute Jar Project
Devirtualized (I love the antichrist) 2005 (2004–2022)
Mixed media: Sanrio Hello Kitty United Nations Stuffed Toy, .5 Gallons High Fructose Corn Syrup, 1 Gallon Glass Jar, Polypropylene screw on cap with PTFE foam liner)
混合物料： Sanrio 吉蒂貓聯合國公仔， .5加侖高果糖玉米糖漿，
1加侖容量玻璃瓶，帶 PTFE 泡沫內襯的聚丙烯螺旋蓋
Brandon’s series of devirtualized memetic image-objects started when he first spotted on his Instagram explore page, a resemblance of the political compass to postmodern design icon Verner Panton’s 1994 commission for IKEA, the Vilbert chair. A year later, his meme “Wtf political compass chair” becomes devirtualised and transmuted into physical space as the object Political Compass Chair devirtualized. Brandon observes postmodern designs as carrying a sense of self aware irony, anachronism, and pastiche, making an appropriate fit to be bastardised and co-opted in our contemporary pastiche economy.
United Nations Hello Kitty Schitzo Tribute Jar Project Devirtualized (I love the antichrist) 2005 also begins within a memetic network (a remixing of the Hello Kitty and United Nations collaboration with the infamous Pony Cum Jar) and enters physical space as objects. Having been digitally captured, transmuted into a physical image-object (as facsimile), then being seen by our cameras and eyes again, Brandon asks if memes have replaced art’s cultural significance: how does one make a work that uses the memetic chain as a medium? The versions of the works exist simultaneously in various locations at various scales in various stages of resolution, but their truest form is within the image.
Brandon 一系列去虛擬化的迷因圖像實物，靈感源自於某天在 Instagram 探索頁面上 看到一個近似政治光譜座標圖（political compass）的圖像，那是為後現代設計大師 Verner Panton 在 1994 年為 IKEA 設計的 Vilbert 椅子。一年後，他的迷因「Wtf political compass chair」終於實體化，《 Political Compass Chair devirtualized》（直譯為《政治 座標椅子_去虛擬化》）因而誕生。Brandon 認為，後現代設計常常
帶有自嘲和不合時宜的感覺，非常適合在我們當代的臨摹經濟中 被劣化和借鑒。
《 United Nations Hello Kitty Schitzo Tribute Jar Project Devirtualized (I love the antichrist) 2005》（直譯為 《聯合國
思覺失調 HelloKitty 放入罐中去虛擬化（我愛反基督）2005》）
把迷因網絡（Hello Kitty x 聯合國 x 臭名昭著的彩虹小馬精液 罐）重新混合成實體，進入物理空間。透過捕捉數字影像，再 轉化為平面實物（猶如將實物影印），然後再次被我們的相 機和眼睛接收，Brandon 試圖找出迷因是否已經取代了藝術
的文化意義：人們如何製作一件以迷因作為媒介的作品？作 品的不同版本存在於不同地點、不同尺度、不同解像度，但它們最真實的形式 還是存在於圖像中。
Platform Artifacts (2022)
inkjet print on PVC board. A set of three 44 x 31 cm works. From left to Right: Marble Fragment depicting a FILA Disruptor 2, Marble Fragment depicting Bella Hadid, Bottega Veneta Kettlebell bag embedded in Marble Fragment
噴墨打印 PVC 板，一組三件，每件 44 x 31 cm
由左到右：描繪 FILA Disruptor 2 的大理石碎塊、描
繪 Bella Hadid 的大理石碎塊、嵌入大理石
碎塊的 Bottega Veneta Kettlebell 手袋
Platform Artifacts consists of a grouping of three photo-sculptural works, each depicting recently expired subjects that have occupied much of virtual presence, arguably more than physical. Reliant upon the favour of algorithms to dictate their online visibility, these subjects have been converted into pseudo-artifacts and embedded in slabs of marble. Similarly, the false marbles rely on algorithms from Blender to replicate their organic textures, and found sources from Adobe Stock for an additional layer of artifice. They are then photographed and reprinted as image-objects (facsimiles). These steps of translation engage with the slippery state between image and object, where subjects are reduced to a two-dimensional state that often counters their material existence.
作品都描繪了恰好過時的主題， 這些主題物依靠算法來掌握其曝光率，它 們於網上的存在感甚至比現實中更高。當主題被轉化成實物、被嵌入大理 石板中成為「偽文物」，這些假的大理石亦同樣地依靠演算法，以 Blender 和 Adobe Stock 的資源來複製其有機紋理，後被拍攝和重印為圖像實物（猶如將實物 影印）。這些轉化步驟使圖像和物體之間成滑動狀態，令主體被簡化為平面，與他們 的物質存在相悖。
Hypertext Monuments (2022)
inkjet print on PVC board
噴墨打印 PVC 板
I’ve been tracking the circulation of a set of images: grainy, low resolution scans documenting the work of the Italian radical design group, Superstudio, often encountered via niche moodboarding sites and visual research platforms like are.na. Erased of origin, retitled using metadata, and devoid of context, they are transplanted and accompanied by vastly dissimilar imagery, ranging from robot examines body in bagdad.jpg to BritneySpears portrait.jpg. To examine this strange compression of time and context, I began collecting any images that neighbored the original Superstudio images, ultimately pasting them back onto forms reminiscent of their Quaderna series.
我一直在追蹤一組圖像：意大利激進設計團隊 Superstudio 作品的粗糙、低辨認率的 掃描記錄。這些圖像在小眾心情看板（
moodboard) 網站和 are.na 等視覺研究平台上 有跡可循。它們的來源被抹去，以元數據重新命名，並且缺乏上文下理，被移植並 伴隨著截然不同的圖像，如 robots examines body in bagdad.jpg 和 BritneySpears portrait.jpg。為了觀察這種被壓縮的怪異語境，我開始收集與 Superstudio 原圖相鄰 的所有圖像，最終將它們粘貼在讓人想起他們的 Quaderna 系列的形式上，而成 《 Hypertext Monuments》（直譯為《超文本遺跡》）。
《 Platform Artifacts》（直譯為《平台文物》）由三幅照片雕塑作品組成，每幅
Brandon Bandy & Rachel Jackson
Objects for Ascension (2021) A5 (148 x 210mm). 28 pages. Open Edition. 28頁，開放版
Objects for Ascension is a zine that combines AIgenerated imagery and found 3D models to examine the multi-layered nostalgia that occurs as a result of access to an endless archive of past cultural production. It investigates the simultaneously liberatory and reductive potential of the bootleg, which can allow for gross and disfigured excess through mass production, or carry on a legacy of transcendent design. With the oncoming wave of artificial intelligence technologies and the ability to generate never-ending variations of preexisting imagery, it seems that time is an increasingly flat circle.
《 Objects for Ascension》（直譯為《上升之物》）這本小誌結合了人工智能生成的圖像 和立體模型，檢視過去文化生產中的多層懷舊情緒。小誌亦研究了同時具有解放和還 原潛力的盜版生產，其可以通過大規模生產進行破壞，甚至超越原有設計。隨著人 工智能技術浪潮的到來，現有圖像將永無止境地變化，時間也似乎是一個越來越平 坦的圓圈。
Brandon Bandy b. 1994, based in Los Angeles 現居於洛杉磯 IG @brandon_bandy
Brandon Bandy is a transmedia artist and publisher living in Southern California.
His work parses images, cultural signifiers, online spaces, and conspiracy while aiming to analyse the extreme present. Coming from a commercial image production background, his work is largely informed by the use of commercial processes as a way of analysing the culture and media they perpetuate. Much of his work is interested in the idea of de-virtualization, which entails using online information as a recipe for the creation of physical objects, which are then mediated through the use of photography.
Brandon Bandy 是一位居於南加州的跨媒體藝術家和 出版人。他的作品以解析圖像、文化象徵、網絡空間、和陰 謀論來分析當下。具有商業圖像製作
背景的 Brandon，他的作品經常分析 商業流程所傳播、延續的文化和媒體。 他的作品亦與「去虛擬化」（de-virtualization）這概念深深緊扣，即透 過使用網絡資訊來構建實物，然後再 透過攝影的媒介加以呈現。
E8mkboy
The Chair (2023)
椅子 oil on canvas, pet bowl, safety stripe tape
油彩布本、寵物碗、安全膠帶
Terms and Conditions (2023)
acrylic on spray paint
塑膠彩噴漆
Rachel Jackson b. 1997, based in Los Angeles
現居於洛杉磯 IG @racheljax
Rachel Jackson is an artist, designer, and publisher based in Southern California.
Her practice surveys the presentstate of image transmission in an effort to understand how the utopian potential of a networked society has been largely undermined by its commodification. Her work parses through internet trend cycles, design history, and content aggregation sites to examine the increasing role digital technologies play as conduits for image consumption. As a digital native coming of age during the advent of Web 2.0, her online experience has been defined by an aggravated feedback loop between identity and commodity as platforms incentivized the rise of the profile as a means of attaining sellable, hyper-individualized data. She seeks to unpack this phenomena while attempting to actualize the collectivism once promised by information technology.
Rachel Jackson 是一位居於南加州的藝術家、設計師 和出版人。她嘗試以圖像傳輸的現狀，去理解商品化如 何阻止了網絡社會（networked society）成為烏托邦 的潛能。Rachel 的作品透過分析網絡趨勢、設計歷史 和資訊整合網站，來審視數碼技術在圖像消費（image consumption）中扮演的角色。作為一個成長於 Web
2.0 的數位原住民（digital native），她見證著平台不斷 鼓勵個人用戶變為可銷售、高度個性化數據，而她的網絡 體驗也變為個人身份和商品之間的反饋回路（feedback loop，循環）。因此，她試圖實現資訊科技曾經承諾的集 體主義來解開這一現象。
Pressure (2023)
壓力 oil on canvas
油彩布本
E8 trapped in the girls’ dormitory for the Nth day (2022)
E8
被困在女生宿舍的第 N 天
acrylic on canvas
塑膠彩布本
Woof woof, woooooooooooooof! o(^▽^ )o
Wooof woof woof wooooof woof. ╮ (￣▽￣ ””)╭
Wooof wooofffff, wooooooof woof woof.
Woooof wooof woof woof woof?
Woof woof woof woof woof?(｡ì _ í｡ )
Wooof woof wooof woof woof woof wof wof wooooooooof woooooof ou ou. (>^ω^ <)
汪汪，汪汪汪汪汪汪！o(^▽^)o 汪汪汪汪汪，汪汪汪汪汪。╮(￣▽￣””)╭
汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪，汪！
汪汪，汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪汪？汪汪汪汪汪汪汪？(｡ì
E8mkboy based in Hong Kong 現居於香港 IG @e8mkboy
E8mkboy is a visual artist and a lover of love, the idyllic, and alternative modes of care and intimacy. E8 channels its fantasies fairy tales often featuring leathered-up dominatrixes and its doe-eyed, bondaged, submissive and breedable self online and in its vibrant paintings. It also works with mural paintings, Roblox, video, among other media. In a mural painting detailing house rules of subordination, the little pet takes comfort in domestication as part of everyday rituals. Sitting from across, The Chair depicts a squatting E8 paws out on a gaming chair, fed quite literally with a pet bowl. It does not claim to be a femboy nor catboy, contrary to popular assumptions, and whether or not their stories are authentic is of unimportance.
E8’s works have been exhibited at Art Central 2023, its solo show at Running Ashtray, and other online domains.
E8mkboy 熱愛詩情畫意般 的戀愛、另類的關懷和親密方式。E8 透過網上帖文和 牠繽紛的畫作表達其童話式的幻想：穿皮革的施虐女主 人（dominatrixes）、及由她所支配的大眼睛、被綑綁 和很「受」（breedable）的小 E8。牠的作品還會以壁 畫、Roblox和影片的方式呈現。在展廳裡一幅描述家規教 條和屈從的壁畫中，小寵物在馴養中獲得安慰是日常儀式 的一部份。對面的《椅子》描繪了蹲在遊戲椅上的 E8，正 在用寵物碗進食。與大眾的假設和猜測相反，牠並不自 稱為陰柔男孩（femboy）或貓郎（catboy），而牠的故 事是否屬實也不重要。
E8 的作品曾在 Art Central 2023、Running Ashtray 裡舉行的個展、以及其他網絡領域展出。
Cas Wong
Who’s That Girl? (2023)
Mixed-media installation
混合媒體裝置
“having a political view nowadays is just as easy as deciding your hairstyle, i acknowledge the usefulness of virtue signalling in creating common knowledge to foster social changes, but sometimes i just don’t trust a mullet”
In the age of extreme spectacle, the self predicates on its brand. Cas Wong continues girlie’s (妹豬 ) Hair Trilogy of visiting local salon icon house Li Choi Ling (李采玲包生髮屋 ), hair loss neurosis, and Greta Thunberg adoration. The latest of lore narrates a young adult girlie bound in a swamp salon, hair scattered across the murky ground. Girlie loves the belief that she can shop her way through social change, she loves it even more when she can combat climate crises one virtue signalling at a time. Against the neoliberal backdrop of live, laugh, love mantras, wellness, and performative philanthropy, Cas ponders if one can truly maintain their subjectivity (and sanity).
在高度奇觀（extreme spectacle）的時代，自我身份建立在 自身的品牌上。我們是點讚的收割機和酸民（trolls）的盾 牌。黃榮鋒延續了「妹豬」的《髮型三部曲》，參觀了本 地名人髮廊「李采玲包生髮屋」，談到了脫髮焦慮和對 格雷塔 · 桑伯格（Greta Thunberg）的崇拜。最新情節講 述了一個年輕成年女孩被困在一個沼澤髮廊裡，沼澤地 面上到處都是頭髮。如今擁有自己政治觀點就像選擇你 的髮型一樣容易。妹豬相信自己可以透過購物來實現社 會變革，更相信自己可以透過一次又一次地展現道德信號 （virtue-signal）以應對氣候危機。但有時你就是不能相 信一個有狼尾髮型（mullet）的人！
Cas Wong 黃榮鋒
b. 1997, based in Hong Kong 現居於香港 IG @princessbuddha3000 @virtue.village
Cas Wong (aka princessbuddha3000) is a Hong Kong-based artist. Graduated in Film Studies at HKBU; he works in video, digital graphic, painting, installation, and performance. In 2020, he co-founded Virtue Village, an artist duo and a curatorial project that explores contemporary spirituality, queer subcultures, and fetishism. His works have been extensively exhibited at PHD group, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Present Projects, Negative Space, etc.
Angela Liu
Adderall Nation, Ketamine Please (2023) 阿得拉國度，氯胺酮唔該 Video essay
錄像文章
(with contributed materials from Instagram meme pages @hkstudymemes @chaotic_student_ shitposting @toesuckerhk @ed.loveposting @commander_dog_hk2)
The video essay Adderall Nation, Ketamine Please recaps the exhibition concepts with the curator’s continually-interrupted research, while indulging in the audience’s lizard, smooth brains. In a libidinal economy, to seize the platform is to capture what holds our impulses1 The video(s) structures itself fragmentally across multiple windows, running simultaneously but in discord, recalling pop-up ads and a hamster-wheel-full of to-do’s as celebrated in hustle culture. The essay text is foregrounded by a gameplay of Minecraft Parkour and Subway Surfers, mimicking the popular Reddit storytelling method known to aid attention-deficit users with their focus. The perspective follows the researcher’s ambition to complete her text but in vain—obstructed by a polyphonic audio and minute long dopamine hits of NPC TikTok streams, vines, silly cat videos, deep fried memes, schizo-posts and shitposts—oscillating between forced stimulation and pacified frustration, ending in distraction.
The title borrows from Elizabeth Wurtzel’s memoir Prozac Nation to characterise the contemporary disposition: when taking Adderall or Ritalin becomes more commonplace than ever, even necessary; when ketamine rises to the ranks as the most consumed pastime substance on the dancefloor. A gameplay of Minecraft parkour or an NPC stream is required to foreground any text of length, simply to sustain our nano-attention and dissociate ourselves.
錄像文章《阿得拉國度，氯胺酮唔該》以策展人不停被打斷的研究去回顧是次展覽 主題，同時影像形式在我們掌管原始本能的蜥蜴腦（lizard brain）中、沒有大腦皮層 褶皺（smooth brain，即沒腦子）般的惰性中肆無忌憚。在力比多（性衝動）經濟中，懂得運用令 我們感到刺激的東西就等於是掌握了平台。影像在多個窗口中碎片化地組合，同時運行但並不 和諧，讓人想起搏命文化（hustle culture）中所推崇的彈出式廣告和由待辦事項組成的倉鼠輪。該 錄像文章以《我的世界跑酷》（Minecraft Parkour）和《地鐵跑酷》（Subway Surfers）的遊戲畫面作 為背景，模仿流行的 Reddit 說故事方法，來幫助專注力失調的用戶集中 注意力。跟隨研究人員的視角，由一開始抱著完成文本的雄心壯志，到 途中被各式各樣的多巴胺陷阱阻礙，如有 NPC TikTok 直播、vines、蠢貓 短片、「油炸（即誇張變色或變形）迷因」、精神分裂帖文和垃圾帖文。 在無間斷的外部刺激與挫敗感之間徘徊，最後在分心中結束。
黃榮鋒，又名佛公主，是一位居於香港的藝 術家。畢業於香港浸會大學電影研究系，他 的創作形式包括錄像、數碼圖像、繪畫、裝
置、和表演等。在 2020 年，他與陳敬元共同 創辦了真善美村（ Virtue Village），一個 藝術雙人組合和策展計劃，探索當代靈性、 酷兒次文化、和戀物的主題。他的作品曾在 PHD group、大館當代美術館、Present Projects、Negative Space 中展出。
這個標題借用了 Elizabeth Wurtzel 的回憶錄 《百憂解國家》（ Prozac Nation）來描述當代的 傾向：當服用阿得拉（Adderall）或利他林（Ritalin） 變得比以往任何時候都更加普遍甚至必要、當 氯胺酮（ketamine）成為舞池上消耗最多的消 遣藥物時——當《我的世界》（Minecraft）或《 地鐵跑酷》（Subway Surfers）的遊戲畫面需要 與任何文本並置而目的只是為了維持我們的納 米注意力（nano-attention），並讓我們從自己的 思緒中游離。
