Simulacra
2022年2月8日，第一届伦敦青年艺术家影展“Simulacra——雕刻我们的时代”在位于伦敦西区莱斯特广场以北的查尔斯王子电影院开幕。此次影展中所有影片在Prince charles cinema拥有300+观众坐席的主展厅放映。共有16余位艺术家及观众参加影片首映开幕式。本届影展为我们带来近19部实验影片。除此之外，艺术家分享了他们在创作中的体验与观众见面。
现场，Freezingfog主办方向所有关注、支持首届伦敦影展的观众、合作伙伴Prince charles cinema、参展艺术家和评选委员表示衷心感谢。实验影片可以很‘小’，小到能够关注每个艺术家的迷茫与起落，在作品中寻找彼此的价值和意义；实验影片也可以很‘大’，大到能够关怀实验影像发展的未来。在当代艺术发展中无数的艺术家们，都和我们有关。
Dream & Reality
Director: Aimee Gao
2019 / China & United Kingdom / Animation / 5 MIN
Aimee Gao became struck by Jung's theory that "Dreams may contain ineluctable truth". Through the lucid dreams and the hazy lives of three young people with different identities, the film reveals the souls of freedom and the memories of the times, thus exploring "what magical community the collective subconscious connected to the same dreams of a collective group of people leads to".
荣格的理论极大的触动了Aimee Gao:“梦中可能包含着不可抗拒的真理”。该影片通过3位不同身份的⻘年人的清醒的梦境 和朦胧的生活近况，去展现崇尚自由的灵魂，和时代的记忆，从而探究“集体人群同样的梦境所连接的集体潜意识导向了何 种神奇的共同体”。
Lovely Plants
Director: Yijie Sun
2021 / United Kingdom / Short Film / 8 MIN
Night
Director: Yuxuan Xiao肖宇轩
2021 / United Kingdom / Video Art / 3 MIN
Territory 11.81x11.81
Director: Yijie Sun
2021 / United Kingdom / Performance / 3 MIN
When human beings intervene consciously in nature, there will inevitably be a state of self-imbalance. While yearning for nature to protect and take radical measures to invade, this dualism of optimism and pessimism cannot be separated.
当人类有意识地干预自然时，必然会出现一种自我失衡的状态。在向往自然保护和采取激进措施入侵的同时，这种乐观与悲观的二元论是分不开的。
Can you be my virus?
Director: Yuan Zhuang
2020 / United Kingdom / Experimental / 2 MIN
I tried to think about the current issues from a first-person perspective. There is a dramatic and elaborate scene involving a cactus, in which one wrong step would be fatal.
我试图从第一人称的角度思考当前的问题。有一个涉及仙人掌的戏剧性和精心制作的场景，其中任何一个错误都将是致命的
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy
Director: Ran Zhou 周然
2020 / Canada / Animation / 14 MIN
Our body is a troublesome thing.
It never changes directly by our own will. On the contrary, it is awkward and resistant to change. My long history of getting along with the imperfect body is the initial idea that inspired me to start this work. Quoting Nietzsche’s “The farthest thing from us is our own self,” our subtle relationship with body and imagination begins with the fact that we cannot ever fully see our own body. Our struggle between the ‘ideal’ and the actual body is also a process of self-recognition and identification – it is reflecting not only a desperate obsession of ‘beauty,’ but a deeper aesthetic standardisation defined and solidified by society.
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) is a video project discussing the stereotype of body aesthetic from a posthuman perspective. It centres on a nonsexual virtual character - a plastic toy produced in a Chinese assembly-line factory.
我们的身体是个麻烦事。
它永远不会根据我们自己的意愿直接改变。相反，它笨拙且抗拒改变。我与不完美的身体相处的悠久历史是激发我开始这个项目的最初想法。引用尼采的“离我们最远的东西是我们自己”，我们与身体和想象的微妙关系始于我们永远无法完全看到自己的身体这一事实。我们在“理想”与现实身体之间的斗争，也是一个自我认识和认同的过程——它反映的不仅是对“美”的绝望痴迷，而是社会定义和固化的更深层次的审美标准。
Doll+：Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) 是一个视频作品，从后人类的角度讨论身体美学的刻板印象。它以一个非性的虚拟角色为中心——一个在中国流水线工厂生产的塑料玩具。
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy
Director: Ran Zhou 周然
2020 / Canada / Animation / 14 MIN
Our body is a troublesome thing.
It never changes directly by our own will. On the contrary, it is awkward and resistant to change. My long history of getting along with the imperfect body is the initial idea that inspired me to start this work. Quoting Nietzsche’s “The farthest thing from us is our own self,” our subtle relationship with body and imagination begins with the fact that we cannot ever fully see our own body. Our struggle between the ‘ideal’ and the actual body is also a process of self-recognition and identification – it is reflecting not only a desperate obsession of ‘beauty,’ but a deeper aesthetic standardisation defined and solidified by society.
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) is a video project discussing the stereotype of body aesthetic from a posthuman perspective. It centres on a nonsexual virtual character - a plastic toy produced in a Chinese assembly-line factory.
我们的身体是个麻烦事。
它永远不会根据我们自己的意愿直接改变。相反，它笨拙且抗拒改变。我与不完美的身体相处的悠久历史是激发我开始这个项目的最初想法。引用尼采的“离我们最远的东西是我们自己”，我们与身体和想象的微妙关系始于我们永远无法完全看到自己的身体这一事实。我们在“理想”与现实身体之间的斗争，也是一个自我认识和认同的过程——它反映的不仅是对“美”的绝望痴迷，而是社会定义和固化的更深层次的审美标准。
Doll+：Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) 是一个视频作品，从后人类的角度讨论身体美学的刻板印象。它以一个非性的虚拟角色为中心——一个在中国流水线工厂生产的塑料玩具。
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy
Director: Ran Zhou 周然
2020 / Canada / Animation / 14 MIN
Our body is a troublesome thing.
It never changes directly by our own will. On the contrary, it is awkward and resistant to change. My long history of getting along with the imperfect body is the initial idea that inspired me to start this work. Quoting Nietzsche’s “The farthest thing from us is our own self,” our subtle relationship with body and imagination begins with the fact that we cannot ever fully see our own body. Our struggle between the ‘ideal’ and the actual body is also a process of self-recognition and identification – it is reflecting not only a desperate obsession of ‘beauty,’ but a deeper aesthetic standardisation defined and solidified by society.
Doll+: Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) is a video project discussing the stereotype of body aesthetic from a posthuman perspective. It centres on a nonsexual virtual character - a plastic toy produced in a Chinese assembly-line factory.
我们的身体是个麻烦事。
它永远不会根据我们自己的意愿直接改变。相反，它笨拙且抗拒改变。我与不完美的身体相处的悠久历史是激发我开始这个项目的最初想法。引用尼采的“离我们最远的东西是我们自己”，我们与身体和想象的微妙关系始于我们永远无法完全看到自己的身体这一事实。我们在“理想”与现实身体之间的斗争，也是一个自我认识和认同的过程——它反映的不仅是对“美”的绝望痴迷，而是社会定义和固化的更深层次的审美标准。
Doll+：Body Transmigration in its Ideal Fantasy (2020) 是一个视频作品，从后人类的角度讨论身体美学的刻板印象。它以一个非性的虚拟角色为中心——一个在中国流水线工厂生产的塑料玩具。
Self-defence Lesson
Director: Zhongyao Su 苏仲尧
2019 / China / Experimental / 4 MIN
A story about a violent robot who had high-level Artificial Intelligence (AI) but escaped from the control of scientists, then attacked some locals in the last area it appeared. The local government sent a group of staff to investigate and search mountains where they traced clues of it from victims. According to the victims who survived, they didn’t even know what the government was searching for. So, to show their support to the people, the government appointed a local TV channel to do something, which finally became an invitation to a Kung fu Master, inviting him to teach some self-defence skills to ordinary people. Then the Kung Fu Master started to simulate fighting against the violent robot, introducing various situations and solutions; the whole program was like a parody of dragonslayer. As a result, the Kung-fu Master killed the robot visually through green screen technology. He found that the robot could hide in Science fiction movies or TV shows to attack people, and the green screen was the most potent agency that could either give birth to a robot or kill it. The audience must believe this whole rite to save them from its attacks in future.
一个拥有高级人工智能 (AI) 的暴力机器人逃离了科学家的控制，然后在它出现的最后一个区域袭击了一些当地人的故事。当地政府派出一批工作人员到山区进行调查和搜查，从受害者那里追查到了它的线索。根据幸存者的说法，他们甚至不知道政府在寻找什么。于是，为了表达对人民的支持，政府指定了当地的电视台做点什么，最后变成了邀请一位功夫大师，请他给普通人传授一些自卫技巧。随后功夫大师开始模拟与暴力机器人的战斗，介绍各种情况和解决方法；整个节目就像是对屠龙者的戏仿。结果，功夫大师通过绿屏技术，在视觉上杀死了机器人。他发现机器人可以隐藏在科幻电影或电视节目中攻击人，而绿幕是最强大的机构，可以生下机器人，也可以杀死机器人。观众必须相信这整个仪式才能使他们免受未来的攻击。
Watchyabit 发布会
Director: Jerry Zhao 赵瑞杰
2018 / China / Experimental / 1 MIN
This experimental short film focuses on the relationship between personal privacy and public safety, inspired by the unlocking incident between Apple and the FBI. Sarcastically, using dramatic visuals to render the new product in poor quality deliberately, I satirised the fact that the product itself was a "fake product" and that the product launch featured "Windows classic old-fashioned desktop and looks "The font colour matching of the soil" to collide with the vision, designed a virtual product and related visual design for the government's excessive monitoring behaviour, and chose "machine dubbing" to express that people will become machines under excessive monitoring. The product name "watchyabit" is "Watch +ya +bit", "ya" is "you" in American colloquialism, and the product name is "Meticulous observation of you", which allegorically constructs and transforms contemporary reality and explores the individual's The relationship between sociality and privacy. The hope is to spark thinking about whether governments are abusing their power and the relationship between personal privacy and public safety.
这个实验短片的关注点是个人隐私与公共安全的关系，灵感来源于苹果与 FBI 的解锁事件。我以一种讽刺的手法，采用戏剧化的视觉效果将新产品故意渲染的质量很差来讽刺这款产品本身就是一款“虚 假产品”以及产品发布会采用“Windows 经典老式桌面和看上去很土的字体配色”来冲撞视觉，为政府的 过度监控行为设计了一款虚拟产品以及相关的视觉设计，并选取了“机器配音”来表达在过度监控下人们 会变成一台台机器。产品名称“watchyabit”是“Watch +ya +bit”,“ya”在美国的口语中是“你”，产 品名字为“细致入微的观察你”，寓言性地建构和转换当代现实，探索个体的社会性与私密性之间的关系 。希望引发人们对政府是否滥用职权以及个人隐私与公共安全之间的关系的思考。
What a good day
Director: Dengke Li 李登科
2021 / New Zealand / Video Art / 1 MIN
“What a good day” is the first time my genuine emotions reveal themselves after removing my disguise. I finally put my emotional needs before everything. Under the spotlight of the red filter that represents joy in Chinese culture, I am the protagonist of my emotions. I faced my heart and wept with joy. I used a piece that only traditionally appears during Chinese New Year celebrations for the background music. For me, this work is like celebrating the New Year in China. Everything is a new beginning. Artist Bas Jan Ader inspires this cry. I’m too sad to tell you (1970–71). Unlike him, I am not in pain but celebrating my discovery. I can finally cry. I am happy that I don’t care about other people’s emotions. I am delighted to sit in front of the camera without makeup. I am pleased that I can cry without hiding. I am happy about these changes.
“多么美好的一天”是我脱掉伪装后第一次真正的情绪暴露出来。我终于把我的情感需求放在了一切之上。在中国文化中代表欢乐的红色滤镜的聚光灯下，我是情绪的主角。我面对自己的心，高兴地哭了。我用了一首传统上只出现在农历新年庆祝活动中的乐曲作为背景音乐。对我来说，这项工作就像在中国庆祝新年。一切都是新的开始。艺术家 Bas Jan Ader 激发了这种呐喊。I'm too sad to tell you（1970-71）。不像他，我不是在痛苦中，而是在庆祝我的发现。我终于可以哭了。我很高兴我不在乎别人的情绪。我很高兴没有化妆就坐在镜头前。我很高兴我可以毫不掩饰地哭泣。我对这些变化感到高兴。
Division in Chinatown
Director: Juanjuan Mona Jia
2021 / United Kingdom / Documentary / 2 MIN
Chinatown is supposed to be a Chinese immigrant community, but it has become a tourist attraction for consumer shopping. The concept of diaspora presents an “illusion of community”. The Chinese in different backgrounds and times hold very different political views. Although people avoid political topics to escape disputes, this allows the division of the Chinese community to continue and prevents the emergence of new Chinese communities. More importantly, manipulated media make the truth inaccessible. In response, by using the statements found in two very conflicting newspapers in Chinatown, I designed a physical tool to create a space for political dialogue. This political dialogue is a process. Invite people to open dialogue, reflect on themselves, understand each other, and visualise the consequences. We can see that each individual makes up Chinatown and has their own power and voice in the process. A Chinatown from only a single perspective will not be a strong community. My vision is to bring the Chinese community back to Chinatown. To ensure that the people and communities of Chinatown are empowered to make their own choices; live together in harmony while maintaining their differences.
唐人街本应是华人移民社区，但实际上却成了消费购物的旅游胜地。侨民的概念 呈现了一种‘社区的错觉’。来自不同背景、不同时代的华人有着完全不同的政 见。虽然人们为了逃避纷争而回避政治话题，但这让华人社区的分裂继续存在， 阻碍了新华人社区的出现。更重要的是，被操纵的媒体使真相难以接近。作为回 应，通过使用唐人街政治观点非常矛盾的两份报纸上的陈述，我设计了一个工具 来为政治对话创造空间。这种新的对话形式以流程为导向，邀请人们进行公开对 话、反思自己并相互理解，并将后果可视化。在这个过程中可以看到，个人组成 社区，个人也有自己的力量和话语权。只有一个声音的唐人街不会是一个强大的 社区。我的愿景是将华人社区带回唐人街。确保唐人街的人们和社区有权做出自 己的选择，在保持差异的同时能和睦相处。
Untitled, 2018
Director: Jiali Mai
2018 / United Kingdom / Performance / 1 MIN
An experimental project. I want to explore the relationship between private behaviour and public space. To see the audience's reaction when people act irrationally. I conducted a performance in Covent Garden, London, with this question in mind. I went wearing pyjamas whilst handling cleaning utensils. I assume and imagine that this public area is my private place.
这是一个实验项目。我想探索私人行为与公共空间之间的关系。当人们做出非理性行为时，要看到观众的反应。带着这个问题，我在伦敦考文特花园进行了一场表演。我穿着睡衣去处理清洁用具。我假设并想象这个公共区域是我的私人场所。
Yesterday Once More
Director(s): Nephelo Jiang & Ginny Gong
2022 / United Kingdom, Canada & China / Short Film / 15 MIN
The short film Yesterday Once More is based on the imagination of the Cyberworld and advanced technology, combined with the emotions existing in the current world. In the process of human development, man-made disasters are impossible to prevent. In an attempt to alleviate despair, the company YOM in the Cyberworld gives people the opportunity to relive cherished memories.
The combination with AI allows people to make different choices and to reimagine. We can regard this as a way of yearning, but at the same time, it cannot change the past. Even if people can go back to the past to make multiple choices, they still cannot change the results in reality.
微电影《昨日重生》，是基于对未来赛博世界的科技的想象，和当下现实世界中的情感相结合的一种探讨。在人类发展的过程中，人为灾难的发生难以避免。由于在灾难背景下人的无力和绝望，赛博世界中的科技 公司YOM赋予了人们再次回到记忆中场景的机会。与AI的结合，让人可以在记忆场景中自由多次地作出与 现实所不同的选择与畅想，这算是一种怀念的方式，但同时这也无法改变真实的过去。即使拥有了回到过 去的机会做出无数次选择都无法改变现实中已经发生的结果，这是我们认识中赛博带来的悲哀。
Ein Licht reicht nicht
Director: Erik Moore
2020 / United Kingdom / Music Video / 5 MIN
An Upside Down Tree's album “sunshine at the cafe ridard”.
Erik Moore - Guitar/Bass/Thumb Piano
Annabella Maneljuk - Voice/Keyboards/Melodica/Glockenspiel
An Upside Down Tree 的专辑 “sunshine at the cafe ridard”。
Erik Moore - 吉他/贝斯/拇指钢琴。
Annabella Maneljuk - 人声/键盘/旋律/钟琴。
His name is not romantic
Director: Yuriko Liu
2021 / United Kingdom / Experimental / 2 MIN
When I arrived at the last aquarium, I knew I had left Mobius. Perhaps it represents eternity in the Mobius definition, but "I" am on an endless road when pain comes. How to escape and change oneself has become the topic of this short film. Black and white represent memory, and colour represents reality. It may not be easy to escape from memory and come to reality, which requires great courage. His name is not romantic, but it impressed me deeply, and now "I" want to forget that romance.
当“我”来到了最后的海洋馆，我才知道我已经离开曾经的莫比乌斯环。或许，在莫比乌斯环定义中曾代表过永恒，但是当疼痛来临时，“我”却走上了没 有尽头的路。如何逃离，改变自我成为了这个短片的命题，黑白代表记忆，彩色代表现实，逃 离记忆来到现实或许不那么容易，需要极大的勇气，我们都需要这一份力量。他的名字不浪漫，但是却让我记忆深刻，而如今“我”想忘记那份浪漫。
The Last Aquarium
Director: Yuriko Liu
2022 / United Kingdom / Experimental / 4 MIN
When I came to the last aquarium, I knew I had left the Mobius.
Candy paper wrapped in lies, animals and humans coexist.
Am I a jellyfish? Yes, I am.
But when I mimicked humans to survive and eventually became human, I lost all of her memories, which only appeared briefly in dreams.
Dreams are crazy. I'm crazy. Human beings are crazy.
当我来到最后的水族馆，我才知道我离开了曾经的莫比乌斯环。糖果纸包裹着谎言，动物与人类共存。
我是水母吗?是的，我是。但是当我为了生存模仿人类，最终成为人类，我失去了她所有的记忆，而这些记 忆只会短暂的出现在梦境中。
梦境是疯狂的，我是疯狂的，人类也是疯狂的。
· 展览现场照片 ·
photograph of the scene
© Freezing Fog.