Conveying tacit radical political messages in cultural festivals or art exhibitions requires a clever combination of artistry, metaphor, and semiotics with a sense of audience participation. It is necessary not only to maintain the surface neutrality or abstraction of the work, but also to guide the audience to “discover” the deep meaning by themselves through multi-level interpretation paths. The following are specific strategies and case references： --- ###1. **Metaphor and symbolic system** 1. **Abstract form wraps specific events** -Example: Using geometric figures to metaphorize power structures (such as pyramids to symbolize hierarchical oppression), or using broken mirrors to map social divisions, ostensibly installation art, but in fact political allegory. -Skill: Transform figurative events into color, material, and spatial relationships, and avoid direct narratives. For example, the sculpture of bondage wrapped with red silk thread hints at censorship. 2. ** “Translation” of history and mythology** -Borrow non-controversial historical events or mythical archetypes to allude to the present. For example, “Sisyphus pushes the stone” is a metaphor for meaningless institutional labor, or “Icarus Falls” is a metaphor for the suppression of ideals by power. 3. **Recoding of symbols** -“Harmless transformation” of daily symbols: such as the integration of surveillance cameras into decorative vine patterns (a metaphor for the "1984" surveillance society), or the design of barbed wire as lace (suggesting the coexistence of violence and beautification). --- ###2. **Visual interference and information stratification** 1. **Misleading surface subject matter** -The title and introduction of the work focus on neutral themes (such as “natural ecology” or “the future of science and Technology”), but political symbols are hidden in the details. For example: In a landscape painting, the rings of trees hide binary codes, which are deciphered to be the date of a certain crackdown. 2. **Ambiguity and vague expression** -Use the cultural background differences of the audience to create ambiguity. For example: a group of seemingly abstract human sculptures will be recognized as “bound protestors” in a specific cultural context, but in other contexts they are only artistic experiments. 3. **Trigger mechanism for hidden information** -Transmitting information through interactive devices or time delays: for example, AR technology allows viewers to scan with their mobile phones to display censored slogans, or use photosensitive pigments to display hidden text at a specific time. --- ###3.**Participatory Art: Let the audience become the interpreter** 1. **Puzzle narrative** - The information is fragmented and distributed in different works, and the audience needs to connect multiple exhibits in order to spell out the whole picture. For example: Ten independent oil paintings each portray local details, and when combined, they form a panoramic view of the suppression scene. 2. **The metaphorical nature of the audience's actions** -Design interactive links that require the audience to “break”, “rebuild” or “choose”. For example: a seemingly harmless ballot box triggers the playback of deleted news clips after the number of votes accumulates to a threshold. 3. **Embedding of community codes** -Integrate into the symbolic system of subculture groups (such as the rainbow-colored gradients of LGBTQ+, and the secret gestures of the labor movement) to form a message transmission that is “visible to insiders, but ignored by outsiders”. --- ###4. **Cultural appropriation and harmless clothing** 1. **Subversive use of traditional media** -Use “non-political” handicrafts such as embroidery and paper-cutting to carry radical content. For example, the “auspicious cloud pattern” in the embroidery work consists of miniature silhouettes. It is decorative art from a distance, and the truth is revealed from a closer look. 2. **Popular culture parody** -Imitate the style of advertisements, cartoons, or children's picture books, and implant critical information. For example, Banksy's graffiti often satirizes war and consumerism with cute animal images. 3. **Scientific or academic pretense** -Display sensitive content in the name of “data visualization” or “anthropological research”. For example: using population migration maps to suggest the refugee crisis, or presenting erased history under the guise of folklore research. --- ###5. Risk Aversion and ethical considerations 1. **Test of legal boundaries** - Ensure that the work complies with the literal requirements of local laws, but avoids direct liability through vague semantics. For example: use homophones, unspecified geographic names, or fictitious country names. 2. **Creative use of "Disclaimer"** -In the preface to the exhibition, emphasize that “all interpretations are the subjective imagination of the audience”, or quote Roland Bart's theory of “the author is dead” to cut the connection between the work and political intent. 3. **Decentralized technology** -Collective creation or anonymous participation in exhibitions to reduce individual risks; or present sensitive content in batches through cross-border touring exhibitions to avoid triggering censorship in a single exhibition. --- ### Classic case reference： -**Ai Weiwei's "100 Million Ceramic Melon Seeds"**: On the surface, it explores the relationship between the individual and the collective, but in fact it is a metaphor for China's population policy and the loss of individual rights. -**Doris Salcedo "Cracks"**: The huge cracks in the ground of the Tate Gallery seem to be geological art, but in fact they are a silent complaint of colonial violence. -**Cildo Meireles "Insertion Plan"**: Currency in circulation