Laser Rain
This project discusses “Tuwei”(土味). Directly translated as “dust taste,” Tuwei describes rural aesthetics which fail to meet the tastes of the urban mainstream in China. These aesthetics are frequently used in Kuaishou(快手), an app similar to TikTok that is especially popular among the young rural population.
Besides its raw visual quality, what interested me about Tuwei was its definition. Tuwei is a very vague word: it can describe forms that have no visual similarities. It can be a meme, a filter, a special effect, a dance move, a rap style, a short drama, etc. So what does a Tuwei video consist of, and who makes them? Is it just content creators from villages or rural backgrounds?
My conclusion is that it is not just the rural environment that makes a Tuwei video, since Tuwei is different from the common definition of rural aesthetics involving natural scenes and organic lifestyle. Rather, the “rural imitation” and ”rural appropriation” of an urban lifestyle creates these unique aesthetics.
If you watch a lot of Tuwei videos, you may find that some scenes that have clear pop culture references. Young boys dressing like gangsters might remind you of Hong Kong gangster movies such as Youth and Danger. A girl slapping her cheating boyfriend in the middle of a road might remind you of Korean dramas. A swordsman fighting some bad guys in a 21st-century city might remind you of time travel dramas and martial art movies.
All of these imitation videos have a low budget, and the rural scenes are often revealed in the background. I found this kind of imitation and appropriation of pop culture fascinating because of the ambiguous emotions they evoke. On one hand, the acting in these videos is exaggerated and the scenes are cliche, which reveal the content makers’ lack of “professional” skills, but on the other hand, the particular themes they imitate hint at their characters’ raw emotional needs. Gang bosses and swordsmen long for power. A relationship, even a failed one, reflects the need for love. I believe that power and love are exactly what village teenagers tend to lack in real life. Such imitation of pop culture, therefore, reflects how Tuwei creators envision urban life. With this in mind, I define Tuwei as a rural version of urban life.
As I worked on this project, I spent a lot of energy balancing “participation” and “analysis.” I wanted to keep the vitality of Tuwei culture while preventing my work from being seen as too obvious and “easy.” My work is mainly composed of my own images that experiment with Tuwei aesthetics: trying a lot of filters, using special effects, and forming Chinese characters with my selfies.
I chose to hide my analysis in several parts. First, and most importantly, I categorize Tuwei appropriation into four genres: gangster movie, martial arts, soap operas, and costume drama. Second, I compare movie clip references with appropriated Tuwei ones. I also add more “rural” elements to my videos by directly appropriating natural scenes that Kuaishou users shot, and then cutting out the still image of village buildings. Additionally, the sentences I incorporate into Chinese characters are mostly pop song lyrics that express fragile sentiments.
Xia Chengan is a visual artist and graphic designer based in Chicago and Shanghai. By utilizing printed matter, photography, video, and installation, his work celebrates the “trash aesthetics” born from Chinese low cultural phenomena. With the methodology of appropriation, collage, and building ironic narrative, Chengan’s work critiques the fetishism manifested in such low culture, which involves broader discussion of consumerism, technology, tradition, and politics. He received his MFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.