Screening the Vernacular: Algorithmic Empathy, Co-presence, and Publicness on Chinese Social Media
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/b3vw4625Keywords:
Aesthetic Publicness, Vernacular Creativity, Empathy, Co-presenceAbstract
The proliferation of digital vernacular creativity on Chinese social media signifies a radical paradigm shift from elite institutional art to screen-based visual practices. This paper interrogates the construction of 'aesthetic publicness' through the dual, interlocking mechanisms of 'empathy' and 'co-presence'. Utilizing empirical visual case studies and longitudinal content analysis tracked to 2026, it investigates how ordinary users and digital creators transform individualized, lived experiences into shared affective symbols. The findings demonstrate that while empathy renders personal narratives universally perceptible, technological co-presence consolidates these individual affects into collective rituals via real-time algorithmic interaction. Concurrently, the study critiques systemic frictions within this ecosystem, notably algorithmic polarization, interface-driven flattening, and datafied aesthetic alienation. Ultimately, this research offers a culturally situated critical framework for understanding how grassroots agency negotiates power asymmetries and reclaims visibility within contemporary 'Digital China'.
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