CAC Presents | The Authenticity Beyond the Screen: Seeking the Communal in the Virtual World
Date：2020.08.01（Saturday）
Time：15:00 – 17:00
Speakers and Panalists：LI Yalun, CHEN Feiyue, LI Changbai
Moderators and Panalist：CAI Yuening
Address：Chronus Art Center, Building No.18, No.50 Moganshan Rd
Language: Chinese
Co-organiser：Dunes, HYPERSCREEN
Screens have permeated all aspects of our daily lives. The images and texts that circulate through these screens shape our understanding of the outside world, and at the same time, they allow us to display our identity and social status. Virtual identities are constructed through our online activities like shopping and engaging with social media and gradually become the “reality” of virtual space. Meanwhile, the increasingly common systems of real-name verification further consolidate this authenticity, which is gradually merging with the real world to form a new kind of reality.
Unlike existing online entertainment experiences, the authenticity of reciprocal aesthetic experience central to the public ethics of Western philosophy is difficult to convey through a flat screen. In the global post-pandemic era, many art galleries, fairs, and festivals have made attempts to move online. Is it possible (or even necessary) for artistic presentations in virtual space to reproduce the authenticity of the offline world? In what ways and at what levels can virtual artworks and performances create their own authenticity? What are the possibilities and limitations of these transitory online platforms, in regards to initiating and promoting public discourse?
Beginning from doubts about the quality of public discourse on the Chinese Internet, this talk will consider the understanding of the “public” and its importance. The guest speakers will also discuss and compare contemporary social media platforms as virtual public spaces, to further analyze how these virtual spaces imitate and recreate their long-established physical counterparts, in hopes of responding to those initial doubts.
LI Yalun is an M.Arch II candidate at Harvard University’s Graudate School of Design, and holds a B.Arch degree from Syracuse University (Philosophy minor). As a co-founder of Dunes Workshop, her research interests include posthumanism and personal identity in virtual and physical spaces.
CHEN Feiyue is a Master’s candidate at MIT, pursuing a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS Architecture and Urbanism). As a co-founder of Dunes Workshop, he conducts research and practices urban design, focusing on contemporary urban issues through the lens of civic culture and collective memory.
LI Changbai is a creative technologist and game designer who graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology’s New Media Interactive Development program. He is interested in how technology affects communication and community development, transhumanism, and the possibilities of gaming as an art form.
CAI Yuening (Moderator) is an electronic music producer and artist. Cai graduated from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, with a major in philosophy of art. Spanning media including sound, video and text, her creative works range from music composition in experimental theatre to other genres of art shown in museums, galleries, underground clubs and online platforms like NTS Radio in UK. In 2019, she founded the independent label Metasonar. She is currently focusing on representing spatial organization, power structures, and narrative through sonic expression.
Grounded in architecture and urban studies, Dunes publishes cultural and artistic content online. The founders of Dunes are Chen Feiyue, Li Yalun, and Ren Beilei. They are currently graduate students at MIT and the Harvard School of Design. Their article, “The Decline of Public Discussion on the Chinese Internet” generated a huge response. They continue to publish research articles about life on the contemporary Internet, including “The Possibility of Discussion in an Ideal Public Sphere,” and “Network, Platform and Spatial Analogy,” among others.
