严肃游戏

展期：2019年8月2日-11月2日

艺术家：阿莱克斯·马伊思(Alexis Mailles)、冯晨、哈伦·法罗基(Harun Farocki)、乔恩·拉夫曼(Jon Rafman)、肯特·希里(Kent Sheely)、陆浩明、陆明龙、马修·切拉比尼(Matthieu Cherubini)、佩恩恩、彼得·尼尔森(Peter Nelson)、吴其育

策展人：付了了

地址：昊美术馆（上海）三楼展厅6、7

Please scroll down for English version.

昊美术馆（上海）最新群展“严肃游戏”将于8月2日开幕。展览同时呈现一系列艺术家关于游戏的写作和创作手记，希望借此激发对电子游戏及相关议题的进一步思考和讨论。本期文章介绍的是此次参展艺术家佩恩恩(Payne Zhu)及其作品《天梯系统》。

天梯系统

佩恩恩

2019

阿帕德埃洛(Arpad Elo)与颛顼

初，天地不分，人神互通。颛顼命重、黎二神上举天，下抑地，将天地分离，阻断人神相通，天梯成为天地唯一相通之介质。颛顼绝地天通预示原始社会过度至阶级社会。

阿帕德埃洛(Arpad Elo)，一个物理学家，苦于无法与实力接近的棋手对决，在1960年优化了当时的国际象棋评级系统，最终这套埃洛ELO评级系统被广泛用于国际象棋、围棋、网球、F1等锦标赛之中。在电子游戏等待网络传输升级之后，ELO评级摇身一变，成为了游戏世界的天梯系统，阿帕德埃洛在高速通信下遥望颛顼，绝地天通，让混沌的网络游戏世界瞬间变得阶层分明。玩家靠游戏对战中的绩效来积累积分，获得排名，将不同排名的玩家分类至不同的段位。天梯作用于每一个游戏玩家之中，它成为集监控-排名-选拔-奖励-惩罚于一体的24小时实时更新的人才调控系统。它是一个不休市的“股票市场”。

天梯系统, 2018

佩恩恩

三频录像，4K，11’49”

致谢艺术家与没顶画廊

99.999%-50%-0.001%

50%百分之五十，这个数字是开启社会阶层跨越的无上密法。无论一个互联网巨头在发布会上如何夸夸其谈任何数字与市值，他不过想用数学游戏绕晕旁人。无论他们从事什么业务，他们都在追求一个趋近于50%的极致的数字游戏。地图上有两百位乘客，就需要匹配两百个司机。有两百件商品，就要匹配到两百个买家。50%-50%。让所有游戏玩家的胜率都趋近于50%，这样他的流动就趋于稳定。获得市场（选民）50%的份额，避免垄断同时保持竞争。50%-50%，二进制0与1，终极的平衡控制术，修得此法，便能从社会之99.999%跃升为那0.001%!

天梯系统, 2018

佩恩恩

三频录像，4K，11’49”

致谢艺术家与没顶画廊

匹配，天梯系统觅得转世活佛

欧洲的任何一家足球豪门，他们的青训营经纪人告知非洲孩子的父母，你的孩子拥有成为足球巨星的天赋。从此，你的孩子成了一个“天赋人才”，就像被金瓶掣签认定是某某仁波切的转世一样，与父母分离。与仁波切不同的是，成为足球巨星的可能只是那被认定的0.001%，剩下的，抱歉，我们对此毫不负责，资本主义只要那0.001%!这样，你就能理解，在马德里，在巴塞罗纳，在伦敦，在米兰，在任何一个欧洲足球城市，马路上卖假冒LV皮包的黑人为什么拥有一个足球运动员的身材。

与深入偏远地区去寻找潜力新星的球探不同的是，电子竞技的星探只需要依靠天梯系统，就能觅得“转世活佛”。

天梯系统, 2018

佩恩恩

三频录像，4K，11’49”

致谢艺术家与没顶画廊

昙花一现的职业生涯

如果一个领域的职业人员技术水准与业余爱好者的技术水准已经产生巨大的差别，我们可以称这个行业已经实现职业化。电子竞技看似只需要操作鼠标/键盘/屏幕，看似不需要使用太多的“身体”。但也因此，它对于战术素养、瞬间反应和手速操作的要求比其他体育竞技要高得多。一轮BO7（七场四胜制）的比赛对身体的消耗也不低于任何竞技类运动。相反，它对于年轻身体的追求，超过了绝大多数体育运动。

一个完美的篮球运动员，在22岁迎来了自己身体的巅峰，27岁达到技术的巅峰，30岁开始走向下坡，34岁面临竞技生涯的末期。一位圆满的电竞职业选手，17岁迎来自己身体的巅峰，19岁达到技术巅峰，21岁该考虑退役了。

在中国电子竞技的管理者眼中，电竞市场才是对欧美体育竞技市场的弯道超车。“你能对中国足球队问鼎大力神杯有多大的指望?这不仅是关于身体的差异，运动技术的差距，整个市场和生态都无法企及。但是如果用键盘和屏幕操控这些“运动员”呢?比脑力，比反应，比意识，欧美根本不是对手，这始终是中韩之间的战争。”而这项脑力运动，比传统体育竞技更残酷，职业生命周期更早，更短暂。

天梯系统, 2018

佩恩恩

三频录像，4K，11’49”

致谢艺术家与没顶画廊

对游戏的反应与行动

游戏，提供一种被设计好的自由去逃避现实世界。面对游戏，我们该如何反应和行动?无论玩家如何不根据游戏的规则来玩这款游戏，无论他实验多少次去试探这款游戏的界面与边界，揭露这种“虚假的自由”，玩家还是在被设定好的游戏里，通过触碰边界回到现实世界，去反映游戏本身。

MOD(modification)是对原游戏的修改或者增强程序。玩家对游戏不满，自己制作一个改良版本。我们玩的热门游戏几乎都是 MOD。王者荣耀是LOL的MOD，LOL是DOTA的MOD，DOTA是魔兽的MOD，魔兽又可以追溯到星际争霸和红色警戒。这种 MOD 行动，带着反叛或者夺权野心终究只是优化了整个系统。也许不该说我们面对游戏该如何反应或者行动，而是在当下所有的游戏外部世界都被游戏化之后，我们如何应对游戏从而去应对这个世界的边界与生态。

天梯系统, 2018

佩恩恩

三频录像，4K，11’49”

致谢艺术家与没顶画廊

关于艺术家

佩恩恩(b. 1990, 上海)毕业于上海对外经贸大学,现工作生活于上海。佩恩恩的实践向来以进入不同的运作体系并成为其中的例外或者破坏者，来揭示或创造这些系统背后的冲突。

近期参加过的展览：

2019

撒谎的索菲亚和嘲讽的艾莉克莎，现代汽车文化中心，北京，中国

变量与供养, 没顶画廊, 上海, 中国

无限游戏, 昊美术馆, 温州, 中国

2018

全球都市 延展智慧, 蓬皮杜艺术中心, 成都, 中国

新冶金者, 尤利娅斯托舍克基金会, 杜塞尔多夫, 德国

个人网站 paynezhu.com

Serious Games

Duration: 2019/08/02 - 2019/11/02

Artists: Alexis Mailles, Feng Chen, Harun Farocki, Jon Rafman, Kent Sheely, Andrew Luk, Lawrence Lek, Matthieu Cherubini, Payne Zhu, Peter Nelson, Wu Chi-Yu

Curator: Fu Liaoliao

Venue：Gallery 6/ 7, 3F, HOW Art Museum, No 1, Lane 2277, Zuchongzhi Road, Shanghai

Serious Games, the coming exhibition of HOW Art Museum Shanghai, will be on view on August 2. The exhibition presents in the same time the writings of participating artists, intending to stimulate further the reflection and discussion on videogames and relevant topics. Today's release is about artist Payne Zhu and his work Ladder System. 

Ladder System

Payne Zhu

2019

Arprad Elo and Zhuan Xu

In ancient times, heaven and earth were one. Human beings and Gods communicated with each other. Zhuan Xu, the God of the North, believed that the constant travel between two worlds is full of latent dangers. Therefore he asked Zhong and Li to separate heaven from earth. The communication between human beings and Gods was blocked ever since, and the ladder became the only connecting medium, heralding the transition from primitive society to class society. 

Arpad Elo, a physicist who struggled as a chess player unable to find an opponent close to his level, optimized the chess rating system in 1960, and the Elo rating system has since been widely used in international chess, Go, and F1 championships. After videogames upgraded by network transmission, the ELO rating transformed instantly into the ladder system of the game world. Echoing Zhuan Xu in the era of high-speed communication, Arpad Elo separated the heaven from the earth, and instantly made the chaotic online game world become hierarchical. Players rely on their performance in the game to accumulate points, obtain rankings, and the ladder system classifies players in different rankings into different segments. The ladder acts on every game player, and it becomes a 24-hour real-time talent adjustment system that integrates monitoring-ranking- selection-reward-punishment. It is an unstoppable "stock market".

Ladder System, 2018

Payne Zhu

3 Channel Video，4K，11' 49''

Courtesy of the artist and MADEIN Gallery

99.999%-50% -0.001%

50%, this figure is the secret key to unlock social class transcendence. No matter how much hot air tech giants blow with statics and market values, they are just using data to fool the masses. Regardless of the business they are involved in, they are all in pursuit of an extreme number game to approach the 50%. If you have 200 passengers on the map, you have to match them with 200 drivers. If you have 200 products, you have to match them to 200 buyers. Always 50% - 50%. By allowing all the players of the game to have a winning rate close to 50%, the general flow of the market tends to be stable. By gaining 50% of the market or the vote, you can avoid monopolies and maintain the competition. 50% - 50%, same as the Binary code made up of 0 and 1, is the ultimate technic for maintaining control and balance. Whoever is capable to play it, can get rid of being the 99.999% of society and become the 0.001%!

Ladder System, 2018

Payne Zhu

3 Channel Video，4K，11' 49''

Courtesy of the artist and MADEIN Gallery

Matching, ladder system finds the next reincamation of Buddha

The scouts of the young camp at any football club in Europe will tell the parents of African children that their child is talented enough to become a professional football superstar. Once their child becomes someone with an "endowed natural gift", they must be separated from their parents, just like what happens when the reincarnation of a Rinpoche is identified. Yet unlike the Rinpoche, the possibility of becoming a football superstar is only 0.001%. For the rest, sorry, no one is responsible for them, as capitalism only cares about the top 0.001%! Now you know why the African people who sale the fake Louis Vuitton on the streets in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Milan and other cities in Europe has the body shape of a football player. 

Unlike scouts who access to remote areas to find potential stars, eSports agents only need to rely on the ladder system to find the "Reincarnated Buddha".

Ladder System, 2018

Payne Zhu

3 Channel Video，4K，11' 49''

Courtesy of the artist and MADEIN Gallery

A transient career

If the difference of the required skills level in a given filed is distinct between professionals and amateurs, we can say that this field has realized the professionalization. It seems that the pro-players in eSports only need to operate the "mouse-keyboard-screen" instead of relying too much on the body itself. However, as a result, the requirements for tactical sense, fast reflexes and AMP (action per minute) operation are much higher than other sports. The physically exhausting level in a competition of BO7 (best-of-seven) is no less than any other athletic sports. The demand of young body in eSports exceeds most athletic sports.

A perfect basketball player reaches the peak of physical condition at the age of 22, and reaches peak of the professional skills at the age of 27. At the age of 30, the career is on the decline, and it comes to the end of the career at the age of 34. However, a successful professional eSports player already reaches the peak of physical condition at the age of 17, and reaches peak of the professional skills at the age of 19. Then it's time to retire at the age of 21. 

From the perspective of Chinese eSports managements, Chinese eSports market is the only sport market that has the possibility to surpass Europe and the US. "How strongly can you believe that the Chinese football team will win the World Cup? It depends not only on the difference of the body or the gap of techniques, but also the whole ecology of the market. But what if those 'athletes' are controlled by keyboards and screens. Compared with the brain, the reaction and the strategical sense, the west might not be the competitors. It is always about the competition of China and South Korea". Moreover, this mental sport is more cruel than traditional sports, and the career in this field starts earlier and the professional life cycle is shorter.

Ladder System, 2018

Payne Zhu

3 Channel Video，4K，11' 49 ''

Courtesy of the artist and MADEIN Gallery

Reacting to and engaging with Games

The game offers a kind of designed liberation to escape from the real world. How are we to react to and engage with the games we are faced with? No matter how much the player does not play by the rules of the game, nor how many times they test the interface and boundaries within the game, in order to expose this "false sense of freedom", the player is still set within the game. Through the process of coming in contact with the perimeters and thus returning back to the real world the reflection of the game itself takes place.

MOD (modification) is modification or enhancement done to the original game. Such action is carried out when the player is not satisfied with the original version of the game and makes a modified version for himself/herself. The most popular games we play are MODs of some kind or another. The Honor of Kings is a MOD of LOL, LOL is a MOD of DOTA, DOTA is a MOD of Warcraft, Warcraft can be traced back to StarCraft and Red Alert. MOD as a means of engagement with games embodies is essentially a kind of rebellion or seize to power, but in the end, it only optimizes the entire system. Perhaps we should not ask how we react or engage with the games we are faced with, instead, we might ask, after the entire external world has become part of the game, how do we face its boundaries and ecology?

Ladder System, 2018

Payne Zhu

3 Channel Video，4K，11' 49''

Courtesy of the artist and MADEIN Gallery

About the artist

Payne Zhu (b.1990, Shanghai) graduated from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics. He engages with different social mechanisms and becomes an exception or a rule-breaker, so as to reveal or create problems that are often neglected behind these systems.

Recent exhibitions：

2019

Lying Sophia & Mocking Alexa, Hyundai Motorstudio, Beijing, China

The Variable and The Generating, Madein Gallery, Shanghai, China

Infinite Games, HOW Art Museum, Wenzhou, China 

2018

COSMOPOLIS #1.5:Enlarged Intelligence, Centre Pompidou, Chengdu, China

New Metallurgists, Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany

His official website: paynezhu.com

昊美术馆 HOW ART MUSEUM

昊美术馆（上海） 

HOW ART MUSEUM (SHANGHAI)

昊美术馆（上海），图片©昊美术馆

昊美术馆（上海）是具备当代艺术收藏、陈列、研究和教育功能的全新文化机构，坐落于上海浦东，共有三层展览和活动空间，总面积约7000平方米，于2017年9月正式对外开放。昊美术馆首创“夜间美术馆”的运营模式，常规对外开放时间为周二至周五下午1点至夜间10点，周末及节假日开放时间为上午10点至夜间10点。此举能让更多观众在工作之余前来美术馆观展，昊美术馆也举办“国际策展人驻留项目”、“户外电影节”、“雕塑公园”等国际交流项目和户外活动，以此建立全新的艺术综合体和浦东新地标。

昊美术馆（温州） 

HOW ART MUSEUM (WENZHOU)

昊美术馆（温州），图片©昊美术馆

昊美术馆（温州）延续昊美术馆（上海）的“夜间美术馆”运营模式，是浙江省首家"夜间美术馆"，常规对外开放时间为下午1点到夜间10点，周末及节假日开放时间将向前延长为上午10点至夜间10点。昊美术馆（温州）将持续为公众呈现丰富的公共教育及户外艺术项目，引领融合艺术、设计、科技的全新生活方式。

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