In this video work created using a game system, the tank emerges as a symbolic force, striking and provocative. In the video, the tank relentlessly crushes everything in its path. This is a visual shock and a metaphorical exploration of political, historical, and social issues. Using the medium of a game, the artist connects the virtual world with real-world violence, creating a critique that carries a playful, almost ironic tone.
The tank, a symbol deeply tied to the history of war and oppression, particularly resonates in the Chinese context, directly invoking the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. This unforgettable historical moment remains tightly censored by the Chinese government, transforming the tank into a forbidden political symbol. It represents the state's coercive control over individuals and society and the erasure of historical memory.
Yu not only questions the legitimacy of authority and aggression but also reflects on the nature of violence through the repetitive action of the tank's crushing force. While the tank symbolizes unstoppable power, its cold, mechanical movements and repetitive actions reveal the futility and transience of violence. This visual impact also highlights how games and reality mirror each other in today's globalized and digitalized world, reflecting the helplessness individuals often feel when confronted with authoritarian power in contemporary society.
Pre-set video game is a social platform, a network of exchanges and relationships which, using innovative language, gives rise to a new dimension, a new world in which to project oneself and in which one projects one's own experiences, sometimes surreal and dystopian. The goal is to subject the game to constant re-codification and re-functionalization, rewriting the standard rules and using them for cultural and social commentary. The decontextualization of the object thus becomes a sort of mystification of reality. This conscious and deliberate alteration does not follow a precise logic of action but takes the form of an unexpected fusion of mysterious, misunderstood, and visionary elements. Design programs, video game simulators, and digital animations are perfect combinations to create a fictitious calm, a static contemplation of that decisive moment immortalized, frozen, and translated into a different and unusual situation of non-reality.
