“The Solitary Revival” is a film project integrating the spirit of martial arts films and contemporary digital image processing techniques that explores the historical evolution and future possibilities of martial arts films as well as the spirits of and differences between collective and independent creations through the multi-channel video installation.

“Films are always the opposite of reality.” Behind the scenes of a swordsman wandering alone in the Jianghu, there are multitudes of laborers working for it. In the early 1970s, when Hong Kong martial arts films thrived, the shooting of films relied on the collaboration of talents and personnel behind the scenes, as the techniques and body movements were marshaled on the on-screen peerless master. The contrasting aesthetics and fascinations continuously extend when we reexamine and rediscuss the behind-the-scenes and on-screen perspectives. On the other hand, do the mature techniques of film special effects, post-production, and generative images in 2025 allow an individual to copy or imitate the whole industry of martial arts films?

The artist imagines how to expand the scale of independent filmmaking, horizontally unfolding a workspace of filmmaking in an atelier equipped with a studio and props that supports the artist in editing, adding special effects, and dubbing films. The entire area is an atelier and film setting alike, which interweaves the production process and the film per se, letting “the Solitary” (Dugu) be not only a fictional character and movement in martial arts but also a creative method and attitude. As such, all the techniques will return to one person, and the film and the reality will re-converge with each other.

Visit the artist’s website at: https://tp6tptp6tp.wixsite.com/chenchen.