Yongning Chen

The Performers is a research and visual practice project examining the phenomenon of tuwei internet celebrities within China's digital culture. The project focuses on how self-humiliation is systematically produced, disseminated, and consumed on social media platforms, examining the underlying social structures and class hierarchies within this mechanism. Its core objective is to demonstrate that creators performing ‘humiliation’ on short-video platforms do not gain attention by chance, but rather through the interplay of algorithms, audience behaviour, and platform incentive structures. Consequently, the project analyses the operational logic of digital visibility, revealing how humiliation becomes normalised and commodified.