Cosplay
Peng Xiangjie
This event has concluded
Dates:
Entry Fee:
Free
Exhibition Event:
Official Opening
07/05/2018 6:00 pm
Photographs from the series The second dimension were taken in various cities all around China (Xi’an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Luoyang, Jinan and Kunming) to document a widespread phenomenon among the young generations’ subculture: Cosplay festivals. The work does not focus on the content of the stories these young people have to narrate or on the reasons behind the birth of this expressive medium, it is in fact concerned about the slight border between fictional and real, and the psychedelic dimension where they are reunited.
Cosplay festivals derive their shapes and images from the characters of web video games. Nowadays, as long as we take in account the field where the mainstream youth popular culture develops, we are forced to talk about the second dimension of internet networking; in Cosplay festivals, we’re able to visualize how virtual images are transported to reality and finally become an incarnation of the effects of continuous industrial and economic expansion in contemporary china.
The photographic medium well accepts the challenge to represent the concept of virtual characters transported inside reality and the idea of unreal images becoming concrete and touchable. In a universe where society doesn’t still fully accept the presence of transvestite, homosexual, and bisexual people, who don’t always find the chance to express themselves in the official dimension of reality, an escape has to be found inside a second dimension. Cosplay festivals take place in their own space: they create room for freeing creativity and rebellion, originating a cultural phenomenon that satisfies the self’s need to be shown in the public space and to be accepted by the society.
彭祥杰的摄影系列作品《二次元》拍摄于中国的各大城市(西安、成都、重庆、洛阳、济南、昆明)。《二次元》以角色扮演祭(Cosplay festivals)，近年来广为流行于新一代年轻人的次文化为主题。这系列作品并非意在探讨这群年轻人为何选择以角色扮演来表达自己，也非意在探讨这流行次文化是如何诞生。《二次元》着眼于如何呈现虚幻与真实之间的界线,以及那虚构与现实交会的魔幻次元。
角色扮演祭指的是人们把自己打扮得像电玩游戏里面的人物。在现代，由于次世代流行文化的在网络上的蓬勃发展，我们不得不正视二次元对日常生活的影响力。在角色扮演祭中，人们得以将虚拟图像具象化，并成为现实。如今这股力量已经对中国产业发展及经济造成举足轻重的影响。
《二次元》接受并尊重角色扮演所宣扬的大胆概念──将虚构变成现实。角色扮演玩家打扮的像虚拟人物，且相信虚构的影像能够形体化,最终成为现实。然而，在这个世界上仍很多人无法完全接受如异装癖、同性恋、以及双性恋等特殊嗜好。在这个充满限制的世界中，有机会的话谁不想要放飞自己尽情狂欢呢? 而二次元就是我们得以逃离现实放飞自己的乌托邦。
参加角色扮演祭的人们自成一派，他们创造一个充满想象力及反叛色彩的空间，。在这虚幻与现实重迭的空间中，角色扮演玩家得以满足在大庭广众之下展现自我的渴望，也令他们在现实社会与虚幻二次元之间找到归属感。因此角色扮演者也在现实社会引领一阵风潮。
Peng Xiangjie a documentary photographer. He explores non-mainstream phenomena associated with subcultures within China. The deep sense of dignity that these shots exude enthrals viewers. Cosplay explores Chinese Manga festivals.
Xiangjie has been working with photography since 1991. His work has been presented in prestigious festivals and galleries including, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Visa pour l’image: International Festival of Photojournalism, Monash Gallery of Art (MGA) – Victoria, and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre–Beijing.
His work has been published in notable magazines such as Chinese Photography, Popular Photography, FOCUS, National Geographic, and Marie Claire.
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