Performance by Jiaming Liao
“IYKYK” (if you know you know) is an internet colloquialism signalling content intended only for a specific in‑group. Jiaming Liao’s practice examines how image production in mass media shapes bodily expression and its entanglement with desire. For this performance, Liao dons his signature muscle suit to foreground how beauty and masculinity are culturally defined within an era of intensified commercialisation and technological mediation.
The work simulates an influencer’s e-commerce livestream, constructing a hybrid scene that spans virtual and physical space. Through interactive participation, audiences enter a collaborative act of “transformation”, directly altering the artist’s visual appearance with their own hands. As the boundaries between consumption and artistic creation grow increasingly porous, each participant assumes the role of co‑creator, collectively forging the contemporary mediated archetype formed at the juncture of lived reality and digital representation.
Image: Jiaming Liao. Courtesy of the artist.
