THE TRACE OF NON-EXISTENCE

The accounts on social media have an ambiguous relationship with the account holder: functionally, the virtual accounts store some of the memories of the subject on a separate memory device, creating a fictional identity for the person. However, as the subject spends efforts maintaining the fictional character, the multi-dimensional and complicated person turns into a flat image, enslaved by the virtual account.

Deleting social media accounts: Besides the account holders erasing their online identities by themselves, under the political context, online identities might passively become “erased” for “certain reasons” because of the blurry and unspoken rules, leaving only a grey profile picture.

This project explores the act of erasing social media accounts, in order to discuss issues related to virtual identities and the internet.


The transcripts stored in Cyberspace are people's external memories; what is the landscape of loss of detailed information when their deletion occurs?






2020
Size: 210*210 mm*5 ( dimensions variable)
Material: e-print
The profile picture is the marker of identity. The textually described portraits reveal their identical essence.


︎white cube







Explore the relationship between memory and the subject, Play the sound of touching the white cube that has been cut while touching the uncut white cube.
The touching finger represents the flesh's groping, probing, and confirmation. The virtual
account, as part of the external memory, loses the details of that memory at the moment when it is canceled, leaving only blurred outlines and feelings to be found.













2020
Size: 290*180cm dimensions variable
Material:velvet,LED light


The light is hindered by the veil, referring to the hindered signals.
        



︎broken camouflage










2020.
Size: 20*60cm
Material:clay,plastic,cement






︎the trace of non-existence






























Print "nonexistent" on transparent paper with very light ink When enough paper is stacked, the word can be recognized.



2020
Size: 297*210*85mm (dimensions variable)
Material: PVC, toner





︎edge



In the context of the Chinese internet, when a private account does not violate the
openly prohibited redlines, it may still be " deleted" from "above."
Interestingly,  because of the political reason everyone knows, every user can only roughly
have a sense of the ambiguous limit of freedom, without knowing the exact word banned
or reason for account cancellation. Therefore, trying out the boundary becomes the
gambling game with the "life" of your cyber identity as the gambling chip.
For the regulators, they know the "unspeakable" boundaries so well, like directors
know their scene inside the viewfinders. However, the people under supervision
can only participate in the game through tentative guessing.