Miao Ying

“I consider myself a dual citizen of the Chinternet and the World Wide Web. Hardcore Digital Detox navigates these two spaces simultaneously, pitting mainstream internet users against Chinese censors by playfully instructing users to set their virtual private network (VPN) to mainland China, where popular unicorn websites and smartphone apps like Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, eBay, WhatsApp, Vimeo, and Amazon are blocked. Far from seeing the restricted internet as a deficiency, I celebrate the ingenuity, humor, and intelligence of Chinese internet users, and the rich visual culture they have cultivated behind the firewall.  Hardcore Digital Detox adopts many of these users’ creative workarounds, which are strategies I describe in positive terms as ‘self-censorship’.”

Miao Ying

https://www.miaoyingstudio.com

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Courtesy of the artist and M+ Museum Hong Kong.