Abstract
This study examines the performance of artistic activism and mass protests in COVID-era China, with a particular focus on Yang Xiao's Farewell, Language and the White Paper protests. The objective of this article is to illuminate the interplay between politics and performance, as well as between resistance and resilience. It seeks to understand how artistic expressions and acts of protest can transgress with nonsensical expressions. Situating itself in the context of postmodernism, authoritarian regimes, and multimedia landscape, this article sees nonsense as an artistic and performative device that transcends mere rational understanding to evoke a collective emotive response. This article hypothesizes that political activism and social movements gain traction and become feasible through adopting nonsense/non-sense. Moreover, this work further interrogates the concept of nonsense by dialoguing with affect studies, suggesting that the subversive potential of nonsense/non-sense may offer a glimmer of hope for political engagement and the expansion of social imaginaries.
