🚗 Project in Progress

A old project, a new expression

Initially, I wanted to reveal the absurdity of my previous working environment and commemorate the precious friendships and solid support that helped us through the hard work. Although I wrote only one chapter of this story, the story shows how the separation between reality and the ideal world leads to painful feelings. After the third broadcast show, I realized I also wanted to critique the absurdity of today's system, where people are expected to maintain constant production without experiencing genuine life. I want to change my script to a radio show.

For the background of the story, I worked in an art institute four years ago, and I view those memories as a field research experience. I wrote a script about an artist's assistant based on my friends' and my own experiences. I merged various characters of my friends and 'art laborers,' trying to depict their mental state during rushed jobs. There exists a hierarchy in the Chinese art industry - the great outcomes always belong to star curators, artists, and directors, who consider this normal. However, what about the workers behind the scenes? Who are they? What are they doing?

The pandemic magnified all these existing problems in the art industry. During my time working there, we faced strict lockdown policies between 2020 and 2022. We could not leave our apartments and had to take Covid-19 Nucleic Acid PCR tests three times a day during the hardest period. We needed to maintain the art fair through their agenda, because one of our clients was the government and big companies. So many things changed in a day, sometimes because of policy, sometimes because the big boss felt unsatisfied. We had to work from home and modify the changes. We were tired of this situation.

University students and young professionals across different industries shared the same feeling of being trapped in an absurd system. All the exhaustion and frustration exploded due to a accdent. This collective emotion led many young people to protest in what became known as the 'A4 Revolution'. Despite the government having the authority to control this situation and prevent such gatherings from happening again, people continued to meet. According to an 'official internal document' shared by my friend, the protesters were not only students but also many people from the cultural industry. They organized small gatherings to discuss through literature how absurd these policies were. After the A4 Revolution, the government sought to exercise more control over ideological matters, wanting obedient citizens rather than liberal thoughts. However, people wanted to express their desire for freedom through artistic expression. They found themselves living in a situation without liberty, feeling trapped in a prison built by 'the one and only correct thought'.

Story to Script

I already adapted the story into an actable script, initially planning to make a short film. However, filmmaking would require high costs in equipment, actors, scenes, and staff. By changing it to a radio show format, it became more flexible and allowed me to experiment with various sound performances under ideal conditions. And I can also compell my whole project with my article(Ghost Labor, Do AI dreams of Art labor?(part1)Do AI dreams of Art labor?(part2)The show must go on?)