无人直播
Video Essay
Single Channel Video
Mandarin with English Subtitles
9’10”
2022
影像作文
单频录像
普通话
九分十秒
二〇二二年
Inspired by the artist Lawrence Lek’s Sinofuturism, which argues that Chinese digital technology challenges the Eurocentric understanding of futurity, the Chinese media environment of live streaming simultaneously creates its own unsettling technological dystopia.
To narrow down his arguments through the practice of live streaming, this video stitches some rumblings of “non-human live streaming” on Douyin, which refers to a livestreaming that does not involve human interaction or create for humans to look, namely, ai-generated or automated content, real-time static streaming without human hosts (for the sake of attracting data traffic), and the streaming of sleep. As the term “non-human” live streaming covers too many practices, this video dissects three key questions—labor, affect, and operation to their corresponding means of live streaming to analysize how they creates estranged intimacies.
This video shows what a “video” can be for data devour and its operation and how the audience can relate (or not) to its triviality, absurdity, and banality—what it means to live stream when the content is already exhausted and in excess of reality? What to look at when a video is not supposed to be looked at?
All sources are screen-captured from Douyin. Stock footage used in the video was a “video starter pack” available on Taobao (a Chinese online retail platform), bought for 8.8 yuan. Narrated by the Google automated voice.
This work has been exhibited in The Studio, Montréal, QC, Canada,
as part of the group exhibition Yea I Made It Up, Yea It’s Real,
curated by Dayana Matasheva and Edson Niebla;
and part of the group exhibition A######### I###########,
at Sporobole, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, curated by Nathalie Bachand and Sofian Audry.
受到艺术家陆明龙和他的作品“中华未来主义”的启发，本作品呈现了中国直播媒体环境如何通过数字技术的革新，在挑战了欧洲中心主义对未来性的理解的同时，也创造出的令人不寒而栗的技术异托邦。
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To narrow down his arguments through the practice of live streaming, this video stitches some rumblings of “non-human live streaming” on Douyin, which refers to a livestreaming that does not involve human interaction or create for humans to look, namely, ai-generated or automated content, real-time static streaming without human hosts (for the sake of attracting data traffic), and the streaming of sleep. As the term “non-human” live streaming covers too many practices, this video dissects three key questions—labor, affect, and operation to their corresponding means of live streaming to analysize how they creates estranged intimacies.
This video shows what a “video” can be for data devour and its operation and how the audience can relate (or not) to its triviality, absurdity, and banality—what it means to live stream when the content is already exhausted and in excess of reality? What to look at when a video is not supposed to be looked at?
All sources are screen-captured from Douyin. Stock footage used in the video was a “video starter pack” available on Taobao (a Chinese online retail platform), bought for 8.8 yuan. Narrated by the Google automated voice.
This work has been exhibited in The Studio, Montréal, QC, Canada,
as part of the group exhibition Yea I Made It Up, Yea It’s Real,
curated by Dayana Matasheva and Edson Niebla;
and part of the group exhibition A######### I###########,
at Sporobole, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, curated by Nathalie Bachand and Sofian Audry.
受到艺术家陆明龙和他的作品“中华未来主义”的启发，本作品呈现了中国直播媒体环境如何通过数字技术的革新，在挑战了欧洲中心主义对未来性的理解的同时，也创造出的令人不寒而栗的技术异托邦。
为了聚焦我们的视角，本视频讨论了抖音上的“无人直播”这一文化现象。“无人直播”指的是不涉及人与人之间的互动，也不为供人观看而存在的直播。在此可细分为三类：即人工智能自动生成内容进行直播、没有主播的静态直播（仅为了吸引流量）、和睡觉直播。由于 “无人直播”一词涵盖了太多的操作，本视频以三个关键词作为引导：劳动、情感和运作，并将其与之相应的直播手段联系起来，分析它们如何创造出疏离的亲密关系。
本视频试图展示视频的作为数据的属性，他们如何在算法中被吞没和运作；以及观众如何与（或不与）这些作为数据的视频之琐碎、荒诞和平庸产生纠葛——当现实已经不能承受内容之轻，直播意味着什么？当视频不应该被观看时，我们又看到了什么？
所有素材均来自抖音。视频中使用的素材购于淘宝网，售价 8.8 元。
语音由谷歌翻译解说。
本作品曾在蒙特利尔The Studio展出，由Dayana Matasheva和Edson Niebla策展，和魁省Sporobole展出，由Nathalie Bachand和Sofian Audry策展。
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Citations:
Douyin Livestreaming account:
爱丹丹～情感
Tutorial on Bilibili:
Vito Acconci. Centers 1971. Uploaded by Kristoffer ardeña. 2012. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIZOIoklszI.
Texts References:
Ngai, Sianne. “Introduction.” Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting. Harvard University Press, 2012.
Li, Jinying. “The Platformization of Chinese Cinema: The Rise of IP Films in the Age of Internet+.” Asian Cinema, vol. 31, no. 2, 2020, pp. 203–218., https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00022_1.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism.” October, vol. 1, 1976, p. 50., https://doi.org/10.2307/778507.
Paglen, Trevor. “Invisible Images (Your Pictures Are Looking at You).” The New Inquiry, 2 Oct. 2017, https://thenewinquiry.com/invisible-images-your-pictures-are-looking-at-you/.
Douyin Livestreaming account:
爱丹丹～情感
美姿姿软装
盛马无人售卖
和平精英～～
任冠一
小安妮Anni
爆了个米花
影子天使
（陈皮大叔）
Tutorial on Bilibili:
手机无人直播教程：
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1zK411G7Mm/Vito Acconci. Centers 1971. Uploaded by Kristoffer ardeña. 2012. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIZOIoklszI.
Texts References:
Ngai, Sianne. “Introduction.” Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting. Harvard University Press, 2012.
Li, Jinying. “The Platformization of Chinese Cinema: The Rise of IP Films in the Age of Internet+.” Asian Cinema, vol. 31, no. 2, 2020, pp. 203–218., https://doi.org/10.1386/ac_00022_1.
Krauss, Rosalind. “Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism.” October, vol. 1, 1976, p. 50., https://doi.org/10.2307/778507.
Paglen, Trevor. “Invisible Images (Your Pictures Are Looking at You).” The New Inquiry, 2 Oct. 2017, https://thenewinquiry.com/invisible-images-your-pictures-are-looking-at-you/.
