This exhibition is the degree show for PhD student Tu Lang for her doctoral research. Presented by a fictional start-up company called sitch. Cyber Shanzhai is a realm in between. A zone between the past, present and the future, it cannot be fully present; it has no being in itself. It is an imaginary mountain stronghold, a virtual land of imitation. A realm with representation, replication, counterfeiting, parodies and commodity fetishisation. 

This research explores the metaphor of the Shanzhai myth and how it remains valuable in this era of rapidly accelerating technology in digital media. “Cyber-Shanzhai” takes the notion of the “isolated stronghold” and extends the metaphor to a pocket of internet culture, highlighting the emerging aesthetics of Shanzhai in contemporary digital media art. 

This exhibition is the degree show for PhD student Tu Lang for her doctoral research. Presented by a fictional start-up company called sitch. Cyber Shanzhai is a realm in between. A zone between the past, present and the future, it cannot be fully present; it has no being in itself. It is an imaginary mountain stronghold, a virtual land of imitation. A realm with representation, replication, counterfeiting, parodies and commodity fetishisation. 

This research explores the metaphor of the Shanzhai myth and how it remains valuable in this era of rapidly accelerating technology in digital media. “Cyber-Shanzhai” takes the notion of the “isolated stronghold” and extends the metaphor to a pocket of internet culture, highlighting the emerging aesthetics of Shanzhai in contemporary digital media art.