“Red Now, Me” represents the ultimate state of current technological and societal development. Through the intermingling of capital distribution, technologies, and sovereignty, virtual reality has been empowered to transcend reality, where all matter will be baptized by a crisis of identity. The scale of everyday human life will become ever increasing that any news creates a tangible and bodily significance. And in the myriad of discourses on digital life and virtual reality, the answer to the question of “what constitutes true human identity?” has been repeatedly amended, whereas art, as far as human society is concerned, has always been an existentialist proposition, the ultimate field for proving what it means to be human. And when the core of human existence and social function are approaching a drastic transformation, the value system of art is inevitably going to evolve in accordance with the changes of the perceived subject of their audience. People have referred to AI as the “final invention of humanity”. After such a technological revolution, almost everything in the future will be accomplished with the collaboration of AI and humanity. If Nietzsche’s reflections on “God is dead” and “the revaluation of all values” defined the value of humanity, today, our reflection has shifted to “human (as a singular intelligent agent) is dead, revaluate all values”. This is an important moment, and an important moment for art to restructure itself and embark on a new journey. Under new uncertainties with which contemporary art accompanies, they mutually criticize while staying dependent on each other in this turbulent reality, dwelling on the advent of a new future. The so-called “contemporary” art is destined to remain a never-ending self-reinvention, in which one must courageously and enthusiastically examine the various social circumstances underlying the present technological developments, in order to express and construct the new realities we confront today in the historical narrative of art. Like the emergence of AI has served as an anchorage for reflection on human subjectivity and nurtured diverse positive responses on the premise of the self-consciousness of value, contemporary art is also responsible to return to the most essential humanity and solicitude of art with certain knowledge of the times, precisely “the brush and ink move with the times, but the spirit remains unchanged.” (笔墨随时代，而精神不移)
Pu Yingwei 蒲英玮 (b. 1989) lives and works in Beijing, China. As an active contributor to the new generation of political conceptual art in China, he critically engages with socialist art genealogy. Pu Yingwei dedicates his work to articulating the changes in China’s identity amid globalization and exploring the deeper impact of China’s modernization and development model on global patterns through cross-cultural narratives.His practice employs various media, including painting, video, design, writing, and lecturing. He has developed a "new internationalist" artistic language based on his perception of Eastern civilization. In recent years, Pu Yingwei has deepened his global engagement, traveling to Eastern Europe, Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and the Caribbean, including regions like the Balkan Peninsula and Ukraine, which are currently in conflict.
E-mail: puyingwei@gmail.com