WICAA | GaoyuanChen

水赛杯国际当代艺术大奖赛（WICAA）

水赛杯国际当代艺术大奖赛是我2023开始策划的一场恶搞性质的艺术竞赛，我戏仿了市面上以权钱交易为目的艺术竞赛，将水赛杯包装成看似专业化、国际化、大规模的样式，以一种反艺术的黑色幽默对高校的绩效考核模式和艺术界的评价标准和身份焦虑等问题进行介入与思辨，在抽象与狂欢中消解其权威性。

第二届评委合照

第二届宣传海报

项目源起
外行领导内行、绩效社会与身份焦虑

作为一名艺术院校的本科生，我同样面临着学时综测这一重要的绩效考核。学时大概分竞赛、创业、校园活动、工作实习几类，学生必须在大三前满足一定数量和种类的学时，否则无法获得毕业证。

为了满足分数要求，学生不得不去参加大量的艺术类竞赛（报名即可+2分）。学时数被按照主办方的行政规模，由国、省市、区级行业级从高到低排列、精准量化。然而艺术本身就具有多元化、去中心的特征，很难将其分出明确的高低，并且不太可能存在单一的艺术“权威”能对作品质量进行背书（一个进入威尼斯双年展的作品就一定比一个学生作品更加优秀吗？）。若严格按照该标准来评学分，奥斯卡奖加的分会比“大广赛”少，因为前者是行业级而后者是国家级。

学校的学时加分系统记录

当艺术类院校，将分数与创作质量直接挂钩，这本身就是一件危险的事，但并不难以理解，反观整个艺术体制甚至更广的范围也大同小异。

毕业院校、参展经历、活动经历作为符号化的标签成为个人水平的权威背书工具，但仅就艺术内部而言，真的存在一种单一的权威标准吗？然而许多人似乎认为存在，会有不少的大学生真的认为自己参加的水赛能与自己的专业水平划等号，孔雀开屏似得卖弄，也有不少看似专业的艺术家会将XX协会title和圈内自嗨活动经历挂在简介上。

艺术很难评，也正因为难评，所以谁都可以评。于是我萌生了策划一场艺术赛事的想法，毕竟谁能说我策划的比赛和别的组织策划的谁一定更权威呢？

赛事策划与运营

我计划将我的比赛包装营销成看似专业化国际化的大规模比赛，并发布征集作品的推文。为此，我对市面上各种备受“认可”的大小比赛进行了调研。

通过归纳总结，我如果要达到类似的氛围感，我的作品征集文章至少需要满足以下几个要点：

1. 行文官方严肃，板块分明。开头比赛基本介绍部分压缩字数，避免文学性的描述。

2. 板块要有“组织机构”这类，且要出现在文章前半部分，强调组织机构的重要性。

3. 强调评审团队的国际化，要出现国外面孔，最好能附一张评审团大合照。

4. 作品要求一栏要尽可能地扩大范围，但要把能想到的媒介形式逐条列举，显得字很多。

5. 文章美工简洁，仅标题增加彩色特效，但字要多。

6. 奖项的命名不能太艺术化，名称要包含类似金银铜或一二三等具有明确等级色彩的元素。

7. 要用规整的文本格式详细说明奖项信息（名额、奖品等）

8. 参赛要求板块要写多条，显得像APP的免责须知一样复杂。9. 海报不要太新潮，字要多（把征集文的内容全贴海报上）。

点击跳转作品征集原文

Accounts specialising in art competition promotion on the popular Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu spontaneously reposted my competition.

评审团

同时我也将一些与大制作氛围冲突的元素明显或隐秘地放在正文中。比如我将“水赛”二字直白地放在名称中，明示比赛的性质也是作为一种免责声明。也在评选标准、评委介绍上夹带私货讽刺拉满。评委大合照中大部分面孔是由AI生成的人像，小部分是身边的朋友。

Group photo of the jury

在评委介绍的部分，我让朋友提供给我比较正式的照片，通过图像后期以及文案的编写，让整个评委团队散发一种上流的气息。在人设上，有韩裔新媒体大师、哲学博士、日本设计师、顶级大厨、高校教务辅导员等，以艺术行业为主，外行精英为辅，使人员构成专业、多元又足够抽象。

translation

Chen Gaoyuan

Internationally renowned contemporary artist, founder of Chen Gaoyuan Ruthless Living Studio, member of the Water Race Cup organising committee, graduated from SSA Contemporary Art Practice in 2010, and is now nomadic in Tokyo, Japan. His creations are based on participatory art, trying to generate more possibilities in the solidified social space through postmodern art interventions. His representative works include "GYAB", "Who's Laughing", and "The Washing Machine of Everything". In 2022, Chen Gaoyuan was awarded the Golden Sun Prize, becoming the first Chinese artist to receive the award.

Tadokoro Sawaryu

Contemporary artist and designer, professor at the Advanced Media Design Division of Musashi Art University in Japan, and visiting professor at Metaverse institute in Shanghai. His works involve interdisciplinary integrated media practices such as video games, interactive installations, experimental video, etc. Starting from the issue of contemporaneity, he focuses on the way of interaction between human beings and the society, exploring the new relationship between human beings and the society and the future development, and gaining insights into the phenomena of the new era and the construction of the social relationship. Li Zelong's works have been exhibited in many places around the world, including Southampton University Blackboard, Tokyo Tokai Museum of Art, etc. His representative works include "A Japenese women living in a mobile phone" series, "山東ボードゲーム", and "ECO system".

Chen Zhiguang

D. in Philosophy from the University of Paris VIII. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Philosophy at Shanghai Yuan Ze Cosmos College, and the director of the Institut de la Découverte-Sébergue in France. He is mainly engaged in the research of media theory, abstract culture, history of science and game studies. He is the author of "Wet Media Symbolic Engineering", "The South and Cybernetics", "Clues to the Art of Science and Intelligence", "Doctrine and Convergence: Fields", and "Cybercognition and Posthuman Architectural Ecology".

Yong

Born in Wuhu, Anhui Province in 1991, Yiyang graduated from the New York Institute of Illusionary Art in 2016, majoring in hypermedia art, and now lives in New York, U.S.A. Yiyang is an internationally renowned director and dancer, and the founder of Yiyang Transmedia Laboratory. Yiyang's artistic creation focuses on the poetics of space in contemporary society, often using transmedia live video performances as a carrier, paying attention to the search between self-consciousness and subconsciousness and conducting a series of explorations. He seeks a connection between the self and ego, and the social and human culture, psychology, relationship and context, finding a balance between conflicts, and is known for his parody of experimental and structured cinema. Yiyang was awarded the MORGAN ARTHUR AWARD in 2023 for his pioneering video work 'Satan is laughing', the highest award in the US arts and culture industry.

Murphy Nile

A renowned artist of Korean descent, currently living in London, UK. Murphy is one of the pioneering artists in the world of digital media and abstract art today. His work involves media and methodologies such as digital imaging, electronic media, biomaterials, mechanical engineering, machine learning, and interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaborations in response to explorations and contemplations of new oppositions and boundaries between man, machine, and nature as constituted by the technological environment itself. Murphy's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ and Ocean Supermarket in London. Murphy has been nominated for the Golden Sun Award (2023), an annual prize for electronic interactive art, performance art, abstract culture and experimental music.

Yuheng Zhu

Internationally renowned economist, cultural anthropologist, and art critic, he graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His published works include The Law of Fortress Trading, Davis Double Kill and Value Return, Principles and Assumptions of Action Economics, Beyond Landscape Society, and Walking the Tea Horse Road Fiction Collection.

Cailin Shi

Photographer and musician, born in Beijing in 1984, graduated from the University of the Arts London with a degree in Photography and Video Production. Her work has been hailed as a profound exploration of contemporary social reality, revealing the complexity of human identity and social issues. Her photographs are full of strong aesthetics and narrative strength, and her style is versatile, full of personality and creativity. Her music works combine avant-garde and traditional elements, blending various music genres to create a unique musical experience full of tension and charm. Her work has been widely noticed and recognised both at home and abroad, and she has been hailed as a representative of a new generation with revolutionary thinking and artistic creativity, and one of the leading figures in the fields of photography and music.

Eve Chen

Producer, video artist and writer.Graduated from MLitt Photography and Moving Image at Glasgow School of Art, UK in 2016, she is currently the Director of Academic Affairs at Shanghai Yuan Cosmos Academy. Her work is not limited to a wide range of media and forms, and is mainly based on fictional writing to produce images and theatre experiments, paintings, and installations. Her work is structured around a critique of the nearness of her own life, using interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations to enter into the fluctuating nature of the post-human world, exploring gender, identity politics, and technological power.

Jiaye Zhou

A renowned dance artist and iconic entertainer, he graduated from Seoul National University in 2019. His practice includes and is not limited to video, installation, and dance, using intuitive and novel image presentations to provoke people to think about how moral edges and desires can coexist in harmony. One of his video works titled "Boundary" won the "Mijo Award" in Korea. Zhou Jiaye is also a member of the South Korean boy band LIVEBOYZ, under JYMIX Entertainment, and made his official debut on 22 December 2018 with his debut single GIVE ME MORE.

Wentao Zheng

China's youngest professional racing driver and a three-star Michelin chef now works for Team TOE. With unrivalled success on the track and in the kitchen, this multi-faceted driver is a true all-rounder in high-intensity racing and the culinary arts. His professional achievements include leading his team to multiple victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Rally, the Cheers International Panorama Street Race (FCIPC) and as a guest chef at Goldsmiths, Hotel of London.

奖项设置

我在文末的奖项奖品介绍中，夹带了更多水货，比如将最高奖命名为“全场最水大奖”，入围奖叫“入围发证奖”（强调报名就能拿证）以及赠送定制水杯的奖品内容、老比登奖的点缀，都让比赛变得扑朔迷离。

"
全场最水大奖（1名，大赛最高奖）

奖品：精装实体证书+金色定制水杯+纽约时代广场个展

银杯提名奖（名额根据参赛人数和质量而定）

奖品：平装实体证书+银色定制水杯

评审团选择奖（10名，评审团代表将各选出一位自己最不喜欢的作品进行专栏锐评）

奖品：平装实体证书+定制铜色水杯

入围发证奖（所有成功报名者皆可获得）

奖品：电子证书+电子透明水杯

最具影响力奖（1名，将颁给入围作品中最具有话题性、影响力的作品）奖品：电子证书+小红书助力推广1次

先锋实验奖（5名，将颁给最早5位报名的参赛者）

奖品：电子证书

老比灯奖（1名，将颁给作品最油腻、最老比的参赛者）

奖品：电子证书+行政夹克1件

全场最潮奖（1名，将颁给作品最潮流最商业的参赛者）

奖品：电子证书+干燥剂1包

作品收集

在为期两个月的征集期间，比赛虽然获得了一定的讨论度，但仅有近百人投递了作品，虽从数据上看来并不多，但与其它大部分号称有数百人参与的艺术水赛相比，实际投递人数基本持平（我对外公布的数据同样比实际多好几倍），也足够撑起一场比赛的评选。

报名表欣赏

投递者的身份构成比较广泛，有美院学生、地下艺术家、英硕留学生、老法师、中年正能量艺术家、啃老家里蹲、男权分子、高中生、职业当代艺术家等。其中年龄偏大的投稿者多数都没发现比赛的真实性质，甚至也有美院学生认真参与本次比赛。

Once Nearly Drowned in Ink in the Middle of a Composition, Cheng Yiyao, Performance

Spit 100 times , Lee Dong Yang, performance

最年长的一位参赛者提交的个人简历

Wasted Water Drops, Zhai Yingqi, poster design

The Chinese words in the picture are: For every drop of water wasted, there is a drop of water wasted

Damp Towel, Liu Zijia, photography

作品评审期

Selection Criteria

In the actual selection of winning works, I will not follow the selection criteria mentioned in the article. I will focus on selecting some works with low workload and quality, but with recognisability and memorability (75%), a small number of mediocre and uninspiring works similar to graduation works of art majors of comprehensive colleges and universities (15%), and some pioneering and experimental works that are very cleverly titled, but with no watery workload (10%).

Exposure MaintenanceIn
order to stay active during the judging period leading up to the announcement of the winners, I began by posting three Judges' Introduction columns. I refined and expanded the personas of Yong, MurphyNile, and Eve, enriching them with details of their lives while interspersing some personal expressions and metaphors. Yong is portrayed as a small-town-born contemporary transmedia artist who became famous in the U.S. MurphyNile, a Korean-American artist, has added drama to her part by giving some space to describe her parents' love story (a tragic love story between a North Korean agent and a Seoul-based artist), and Eve's part is adapted from my own real-life experience, focusing on satirising the school that I went to, as well as other art colleges' The phenomenon of outsiders instructing insiders and group bullying by the faculty management.

"The way of water, the way of water," says Yiyang

Virtual Body Presence in the Metaverse - Ziyi Chen

The Future is the Past - Murphy Nile

Click on the image to view the original articles

Interesting interlude.

Even during the selection period, a company specialising in the operation and promotion of the event seriously approached me, wanting to give us sponsorship. Several "judges" and I played the organising committee staff to build a group to negotiate with him, he not only introduced us to the company's past project cases, but also promised that we do not need to provide funds, the proceeds of 55 shares. Of course, because the competition is adhering to the non-profit nature, but also to prevent the other party to sue us for suspected fraud, we finally avoided the company's proposal with cold violence (not return messages).

L:Hello

R:Hello, you want to join the group(Participants’ Communication Group)?

L: I saw on the public number that your WICAA is about to start, I am a tournament sponsorship platform, do you have any partners now?

R: No, what is the name of your platform?

L: We are **** (business licence picture). We can show you some cases of our previous tournaments, which are very effective, and you can take a look at them first. I will introduce it to you.

The full version of the chat transcript is on the right, you can right-click to open it for a larger image

学术会议直播

In May 2023, close to the announcement of the winners, I planned another live online academic conference, to which I invited the previously introduced WICAA judges to live-stream critiques of some of the submissions, with high energy throughout. Several of the judges would be styled according to personas and performatively critiqued according to the frames and copy specified within the script, contrasting the seriousness of the atmosphere with the low quality of the work, and then making the conference effect even more hilarious by expertly blowing off steam about the work.

获奖宣布

Based on the previously mentioned criteria, I announced the final winners on 26 June.

Click on the image to view the original article

Of course, the internal appointment of people is also an essential part of the operation. The Chinese artist Wong Wei won the Best Water Award because of the title of his work, the amount of work he did (he wrote a letter asking the organising committee to give him the Wateriest Prize), his personal connections, and his commitment to sponsoring the organising committee's subsequent prizes.

Screenshot of a text work submitted by Wong Wei, which he describes himself as participatory art. The text asks the judges to select him as the winner of the Best Water Award, so that he can provide financial support for the subsequent production of prizes and other costs.

I also kept my promise and organised a so-called New York Times Square solo exhibition for Wong Wei (a 15-second video placement purchased from Taobao for 400 RMB), presented him with a customised mug (some of the older art competitions are particularly fond of giving away customised logo mugs) and a certificate.

Screenshot of live video from New York Times Square

Order Record

Mugs and hardcover certificates

总结

I gave all the other winners prizes for their respective awards, and all the finalists received electronic copies of their certificates, plus a comprehensive test or CV enrichment. The other "judges" also received souvenirs.

The first edition of WICAA is now completely finished, and many of those who didn't make it to attend are still asking when the second edition will be held. As a participatory art project similar to a social experiment, the Water Race Cup is undoubtedly an extreme group mockery of the traditional concepts and power structures in the art world, and a response to the identity anxiety of contemporary people; a second edition could be organised, but it is not necessary.

Finally I will show some of the winning entries. You can access most of the submissions from this cloud drive：

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zsD1yoMuIaVxXfpuLAZGWK69cJuXt2o0?usp=drive_link