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Digital Art

Juror's Statement

CHEN Kuan-Chun

This year’s Digital Art Category of the Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition received 29 submissions, including two from overseas. Two rounds of review
took place, with the jury composed of SYU Han-Jie, TSENG Yu-Chuang, KANG Min-Lan, CHANG Wei-Chung, and CHEN Kuan-Chun. In the
preliminary review, eight works advanced to the final round. During the final review, the jury emphasized the importance of integrating digital art
installations with physical space. A key consideration was whether a work could successfully merge the tangible scale of physical objects with
the intangible realm of virtual space — blending projection and sound effects, employing modes of digital storytelling, and constructing a virtual
worldview as a way of responding to reality.
How is an idealized society built? Technology and artificial intelligence both attempt to generate answers. From the forms and concepts seen in
this year’s submissions, several tendencies emerged: applying the narrative framework of anime “worldview” to create stories situated in realities,
imagined futures, or reinterpreted histories — using parallel, fictional worlds to mirror the lived realities of contemporary people. For example, some
worlds begin in “ruins,” with the premise that the world is in the process of disappearing, its collapse predetermined. Into such settings, artists inject
themes of our unrelenting pursuit of technology and our inability to detach from it, ultimately confronting the romantic sentiment attached to “ruins.”
In such cases, the creator, assuming the role of a prophet, brings an end to the myth of technology.
To create a world detached from reality recalls French philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s concept of the “simulacrum”: “a reality generated without
an original.” In such a worldview shaped by digital technology, the world becomes self-replicating and self-dividing, where truth and falsehood
continuously give rise to one another until reality is entirely replaced.
First Prize went to “ART: IVF-ET 2.0 Posthuman, Domestication, and The Technological Future” by LIN Pei-Ying. The world of this work begins
in “ruins,” where an unnamed female body is born and enters a technologically prophesied future realm. She wanders through hollow architectural
structures as somber, resonant sounds echo around her. The “ruins” are treated as relics of ancient history, yet they have become the site of
technology’s overdevelopment and self-destruction. Using a three-channel video installation, the artist shifts between multiple perspectives to
present the protagonist’s overlapping and interwoven states of consciousness.
Second Prize went to “The Realm of Victoria” by LI Kin. The “City of Victoria Boundary Stones” were erected during British colonial rule as conical
stone markers delineating the limits of Hong Kong’s Victoria City. The year “1903,” carved into its surface, marks the date it was decreed by the
colonial government. The work’s imagery imitates various historical periods from the colonial era to the post-handover era, with the stone becoming
the narrative subject (a simulacrum) that tells history. Its existence as a relic bears witness to a collapsing world. The video unfolds across three
separate screens, with viewers moving through the installation space to experience a newly constructed sense of presence.
Third Prize went to HUANG Kuan-Jui’s “sWiTcHbOaRd.” Borrowing from the “alien invasion” worldview of video games, this work employs
a “mockumentary” format to fabricate virtual scientific facts. The viewer operates a console as though playing a game, controlling the logic and
progression of the story. While this interactivity draws the audience into the narrative, the work also reveals humanity’s inability to communicate
effectively.
Award of Merit winner “Hypogeum” by LIEN Po-Hung appropriates the worldview of “virtual life.” Humans arrogantly assume the role of creators,
fabricating the birth process of human life, role simulations, and hypothetical personalities. Although realized through off-the-shelf 3D modeling
software, these virtual images offer alternative interpretations and transformations of human nature, provoking speculative fantasies about the
authenticity of future humanity. The second Award of Merit-winning work is YU Po-Ting’s “Lunar Pilgrimage,” which integrates lunar seismic data
with terrestrial earthquake information to synchronize the frequencies of the Moon and Earth. The installation also detects the real-time behavior of
viewers, generating a synchronous interaction effect between humans and celestial bodies.