Statement

One Day as an Emperor - 一日为皇" was inspired by the concept that "the suppression and surveillance of power will eventually be deconstructed and disappear within the history". In history, which flows like a river of time, “enthroned" power and the subjectivity of "individual" are historical and can be erased. In a totalitarian society and a world of digital surveillance, personal identity becomes abstract, even being reduced to digital data and programmatic symbols. This identity erasure aligns with Foucault's idea that “…man would be erased, like a face drawn in sand at the edge of the sea.” Digital technology transforms real individual identity into digital data and even language itself becomes a symbol to be encoded and manipulated.

"One Day as an Emperor - 一日为皇" builds a virtual, repetitive ceremony within this context that serves as a metaphor for totalitarianism, surveillance, and digital identity, as well as a reflection of the history—where both power and individual identity will ultimately dissolve in the face of time.