Tianchang Gu – Papers, please

The title of my graduation work comes from the video game of the same name and is the sequel to my thesis “Renens Palace”, an autofiction based on a dystopian future. In this fiction, the “self”, a former immigrant in Europe, becomes an immigration officer.

How can writing be transformed into performance? The observed becomes the observer. The formerly oppressed blends into the system and becomes a person of authority. Bureaucratic gestures turn into choreography. Official documents become poems. Administrative motifs and symbols of power turn into visual aesthetics. These are the questions I contemplate during this creative process. All these strangely romanticised and anxiety-inducing elements evoke a reality we don’t always want to confront.

Diploma project (2023) by Tianchang Gu

Prix: Prix Ernest Manganel