I don't know when the omnipresent Internet washes away the way we watch and communicate, making patience sharply reduced, waiting becomes inadmissible, and life is divided into mirrors facing each other; At the same time, the ubiquity of the Internet exposes us to a larger community, where we eagerly discuss the joys and sorrows of distant places, but because we are in the uncertain present, we are at a loss when returning to daily life and facing concrete little things.
In the media field, Sun Zhe, as the editorial director of "World Fashion Garden ELLE", and Wu Qi, as the editor-in-chief of "Single Reading", both know the use of "words" or "trends" as mouthpieces, and they are constantly trying to find a trace of luck for the present. From the collective to the individual level, they have experienced the "initial recovery from a serious illness", looking at those "insignificant" moments, and they who have frequently fluctuated between socialization and solitude, no longer blindly chasing the flow of meaning from generalized life, but only to live, regardless of meaning.
Follow this viewing guide to participate in our topic in this issue:
【00:23-01:10】
Although the two met for the first time, the "acquaintance" should go back a long time. From the first chance encounter in the bookstore, Sun Zhe has become a reader of "Single Reading", and the frontispiece written by Wu Qi seems to be a kind of communication in the air. In recent years, Wu Qi's inherent impression of fashion media seems to have slowly changed, which is also the opportunity of this dialogue - to collide, to break through, to create.
【01:11-02:57】
In the fashion field for more than 20 years, Sun Zhe is familiar with the various "prejudices" of fashion magazines from the outside world, "I think fashion magazines have a lot of demonization in the past", in his opinion, fashion has never been shallow, and next year on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of "World Fashion Garden ELLE", he also hopes that ELLE can show more possibilities.
【02:58-04:29】
Wu Qi once admitted that since its inception, "Single Reading" has always hoped to touch the pulse of the times, but in the process of facing the trend culture, there is no lack of confusion, and even occasionally falls into the trap of the trend, including the "prejudice against fashion magazines" he once jokingly mentioned, to some extent or also a certain speculation or imagination under the continuous update and iteration of the pan-cultural field, and the constant deconstruction and reorganization. So for the single-reading 2023, he has not made any grand plans, on the contrary, he hopes that the single-reading can become more specific next year, including more direct concern for society, more efficient responses to neglected issues... At the same time, I also hope that "the screws really don't tighten too tightly", so that the life that has been squeezed into a very narrow space can slowly relax a little and leave some room to breathe.
As a popular word at present, the cause of "involution" seems to Sun Zhe to come from oneself to a greater extent than the oppression of external structures, or due to lack of self-confidence, or due to excessive self-expectations. We have long seemed accustomed to living in an imagination, an imagination of how others perceive us, or how we will influence others. He was also young and vigorous, and he was "repaired" because of this. Trudging from a deep and shallow past, he now sees the outside world as a mirror, just to reflect his own better view of the inside. Because you will find everything that is happening around you, the purpose of which is to stimulate confusion about your self-perception. When you face your true self and give up building your imaginary self or others, sincere social interaction will be a guarantee of long-term pleasure.
The popularity of "self-employment" also shows that voluntary participation in efficient systems has become the norm for most people. Wu Qi admits that in the past three years, single reading has become more volumed, for reasons as stated in the dialogue – there is still something to say and a desire for an efficient response – but especially at such moments, it is more necessary to reflect. At this point, if we want to talk about how to achieve a "sense of relaxation", perhaps we should first clarify how we should redefine survival in the post-pandemic era of rushing and stopping. What counts as unnecessary? What is mainstream? "Everyone may need to restrain their boundless imagination and put it into a particularly real and realistic social context."
【04:47-06:15】
For more than a year before returning to "World Fashion Garden ELLE", Sun Zhe chose to press the pause button, and everything he was once familiar seemed to become a cat in the Zen public case in a daily cycle, a karma, an obstacle, and a source of anxiety.
【06:16-07:06】
Wu Qi remembers a friend once said, "editing is the writer's safety net", aside from the functional relevance of the professional field, people as "social animals", more or less still need to find connections in socialization, to form their own "safety net", for Wu Qi, teamwork is his "safety net". Before entering the single reading, Wu Qi, who was engaged in journalist work, was "going it alone" almost all the time, just as he lived in a society where everyone seemed to be becoming atomized and putting themselves on an island, which should be questioned, so he walked out of his huddled self and took the initiative to plunge into the neighborhood.
【07:07-08:53】
In the eyes of many people, "birth, old age, illness and death" is the worst result of life, but for Sun Zhe, from another perspective, the worst is nothing more than this, which is what time has taught him. For Wu Qi, time has always been a very important dimension, and he pays special attention to more microscopic time. Perhaps because each job lasts for years, he has become more and more aware that time is not a quantifiable moment, but a repetition of a specific problem. These repetitions provide the possibility of continuous experimentation to achieve the optimal solution, and also allow the stress to gradually disappear in order to enter a virtuous circle of intellectualization. And the result of everything will break free from the shackles of the time dimension in the real perception, and be more relaxed and casual.
In the uncertain present, the certainty of appealing to the future manifests itself in the linear view of progress—the new technological revolution that has been swallowed without digestion has long overflowed with ideological fragments that are still ceaselessly filled with increasingly repetitive routines. Most of the time, we are like an ant pushed forward in the colony carrying the fruits of the era, and like a screw tightly tied to the assembly line of an efficient system, active and passive, carnival and loneliness.
Although we will inevitably enter the circulatory system, both as individuals and as groups, it is not impossible to look back from the other side. Perhaps instead of insisting on breaking repetition, we should focus on those "inconspicuous" subtle differences to add pleasure, or learn intellectualization or dullness in the long and controllable power; Instead of shunning the benefits of efficiency, think about: What can you do with your free time? What else can life have besides "necessary"?
【09:06-09:26】
In Wu Qi's view, "pain" is undoubtedly the key word in 2022, stretching out the time so long. But as Sun Zhe added, "It's amazing that you feel long and at the same time, you feel like it's gone with a snap of your fingers." Just as he spent most of his time at home exploring the community in the first half of the year, he got to know the green belt plants that he usually passes by but never stops to take a closer look, from their names to their medicinal properties. The time that has passed in a hurry seems to stop here from time to time, especially in the relationship between people, in his opinion, time will always stop suddenly, the two are in a state of anxiety, many times will also retreat, but eventually the state of anxiety will end, everything will still move forward.
【09:27-10:41】
Compared with Sun Zhe's experience of "becoming a Chinese medicine", Wu Qi is more accustomed to placing observation in community group chats, because he has only recently moved, belonging to two community group chats, he is pleased with the reconstruction of those "nearby" that always lingers verbally, which seems to be quietly being implemented; It also internalizes some of the silence that belongs to the majority in reality into a demand for self-expression and autonomous behavior. "How you express your concern and express your opposition actually requires special training, not a person's innate quality."
【10:42-13:10】
Although the two have a not-so-different past, they share the same specific and personal hopes for 2023 - "travel" and "fetish". With the help of the (re)possession of things, "digest and embody the feelings that I used to be so surging through things"; With the help of physical travel, "keep a certain distance from your previous life, or your previous work and thinking."
"Life" is undoubtedly a familiar word for everyone, as if life will go on as long as time is allowed to move forward; But for each person, life often suddenly becomes strange - as if separated by a fog barrier, taking turns to stage a beautiful or shocking paradigm script - what way should we choose and where should we enter? And what should it be interpreted into to be a real "life"?
When life returns to basic survival, both of them put time on a more microscopic level, participating in the daily life of life, looking at the concrete and subtle beauty that has never lingered around but has never been repeatedly ignored; When communication becomes indispensable, they choose to be more active and active, to return both self and others to concrete people, and to make it possible to rebuild nearby.
Perhaps in the touchable narration of the two guests in this issue, we can temporarily escape the sword of Damocles hanging high in the era of digital economy, hold the hand of the poet, and write the sentence "I apologize to time for missing everything every minute", and place our hopes on the past and the future that follows.