NIL nix nul
Included in D-Normal/V-Essay #3, an online video zinepublished by Floating Projects, Hong Kong
Title of “NIL nix nul” are the Latin and German wordings of“nothing” aas to present “nobody”, and constructed in formation of Chinese name. These words are concatenated to be the name of an unrecognizable figure who gradually disappears in the video.
The fragmentary images of boiling, cleaning and soaking in the video imitate the process of baptism and religious depuration of the mind. The videographer is mostly positioned behind the camera, sometimes appearing in front of it or in the form of photographs. The camera remains still and is often close tothe objects, situating the viewer between the presence of the videographer and what is in front of them.
The work does not attempt to challenge religious practices but, rather, to ponder how individuals subconsciously hold onto a particular ideology and faith through words, images, still things, and human icons. The work attempts to explore the phenomenon of transforming caesaropapism into the structure of the modern regime.
