Life is so tough!"Disillusioned Youth" Unite to Vent at Special Exhibition in Kaohsiung's Pier-2

The "Disillusioned Generation – I’ve Tried My Best to Give Up" special exhibition features an OA desk where visitors can leave messages and share their innermost "cynical rants." (Photo by Li Yi)

The "Shiny Life Fortune-Telling Machine" at the "Disillusioned Generation – I’ve Tried My Best to Give Up" special exhibition offers guidance to the disillusioned. (Photo by Li Yi)

The frustrations of the disillusioned generation can be fully expressed at the "Disillusioned Generation – I’ve Tried My Best to Give Up" special exhibition. (Photo by Li Yi)

What generation are today’s youth in — Gen Y or Gen Z? Wrong, it’s the "Disillusioned Generation" ! A life of low wages and a pervasive sense of hopelessness about the future weigh heavily on young people. The existential question of "Why live? What’s the point of living?" battles inside their minds. Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center has launched the "Disillusioned Youth – I’ve Tried My Best to Give Up" special exhibition, offering a space for young people to vent their frustrations and allowing different generations to understand the disillusioned.

Young people no longer work and earn money just to buy property or start a family. The starkly different views on money between parents and children constantly strain familial relationships, becoming a prominent social issue, yet also leaving the disillusioned generation lamenting that no one understands modern life mantras like "Life is meant to be seen through," "We work so we can clock out," "We diet so we can eat more," and "Life is just a series of holes we dig for ourselves."

"That’s why we’re holding this exhibition," said Yin Li, Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau. In recent years, a sense of powerlessness entangled with real-life struggles has enveloped the younger generation, and "disillusionment" has become a popular keyword in online searches over the past two years.

Yin Li noted that Pier-2, as a stage representing youth culture, has always hoped to respond to social issues and give a voice to young people. Through playful and humorous art and graphic creations, "Disillusioned Youth" expresses the depression and_? of the disillusioned generation, featuring striking imagery and recordings that candidly reveal inner melancholy. The goal is to help visitors find solace in the exhibit and encourage different generations to better understand the disillusioned.

The "Disillusioned Youth" exhibition invites three popular online graphic creators among the younger generation—"Painted Turtle, The Rebellion of Elementary School Textbooks," "Someone’s Daily Life," and "Cynical Writing"—as well as six contemporary artists: Xia Xian, Chen Yanzhi, Lai Weiyu, Shan Kaiti, Wu Zhenyu, and Ni Ruihong, to showcase their works together.

The exhibition space includes nine rooms symbolizing the private thoughts and inner theaters of disillusioned youth. Among them are interactive installations such as "Digging a Hole for Yourself to Jump Into" and "Disillusioned," which feature props for photo opportunities. There is also an OA desk for the public to leave behind their inner "cynical rants," along with bold statements expressing disillusionment. Additionally, there’s a Shiny Life Fortune-Telling Machine to offer guidance to the disillusioned.

The "Disillusioned Generation – I’ve Tried My Best to Give Up" special exhibition runs until February 25 at Warehouse C5 of Dayong. There is also a specially designed "9 Disillusioned Words Stamp Bingo Activity," where visitors can search the exhibition for disillusionment-themed stamps that match their mood. Completing three lines earns you a limited-edition souvenir co-created by "Disillusioned Youth" and "The Rebellion of Elementary School Textbooks."