About Rags Drum
Once works of art were no longer made for certain people or reserved for the enjoyment of a select few, as happened after the French Revolution, new forms of aesthetic experience became open to every member of the community. Every individual was promised aesthetic equality—each and every person, without exception. … The hierarchy among a work’s subject, form, material, and interpreters was leveled, and the consequences of this aesthetic revolution were therefore shattering. … Even when we offer a critique, armed with elegant theories, all too often we soon find ourselves exchanging glances with the enemy and joining them for a picnic. Should we not mark out a new space in which those who are not yet deemed qualified to criticize—the ordinary “Zhangs and Lis”—can be given room to show what they can do?
—Lu Xinghua, A Study of Rancière’s Aesthetic Thought
The Lab on Roof Rags Drum Committee has decided to announce the selection results for the second call for submissions on ACG criticism, Rags Drum 2022.
Selection Results
Following a submission period of three plus two months and more than half a month of judging, the Lab on Roof Rags Drum Committee announces that the Eve Festival, applying the principles of completeness and a simple majority of the jury, produced three prizewinning works; the After Festival, applying the principle of an absolute majority of the jury, produced two prizewinning works.
Passed the Eve Festival but Not the After Festival
The works that passed the Eve Festival but not the After Festival—including works entered only in the Eve Festival—are:
- 河豚, Perception Everywhere: Experiences and Research on How 2D Animation Handles Eyebrows, Eyes, and Hair (BV16a411D7PA)
- Colisa, Transforming into a Magical Girl in a Side Story (《变身，成为外传的魔法少女》)
- 「 」, Modernity Not Overcome: The Absent Origin and Subjectivity—Letter Mysticism and Science (「近代の非超克 欠席した起源と主体性—文字神秘主義と科学」)
Passed Both the Eve Festival and After Festival
The works that passed both the Eve Festival and After Festival are:
- 一条, The Art of Animation Direction: Rediscovering Takashi Anno and Naohito Takahashi (《动画的演出性：安浓高志与高桥直人的再发现》)
- Sairai, A Quantitative Analysis of the Relationship Between Hair Color and Personality in Japanese Animation (《日本动画发色与性格关联之量化分析》)
Congratulations to these authors! Under the previously announced rules, Eve Festival works will receive an honorarium of RMB 300 and After Festival works an honorarium of RMB 2,000.
The committee will inform the authors of prizewinning works and publish those works after obtaining their consent. For works that did not win a prize, all rights revert to their authors, who may dispose of the works entirely as they choose. Whatever the result, we sincerely thank every author who submitted work to this event.
Acknowledgments
We thank the jury members for volunteering their labor. They are: …
A group of enthusiasts intellectually and aesthetically equal to their audience—no academic authorities, no “places” reserved for scene celebrities!
We thank 初鹿野凪 for artistic promotional support, including the event posters, and thank the critics, groups, and platforms that offered friendly advice and sincere assistance. The Lab on Roof Rags Drum Committee will present the jury and other contributors with Dangdang book cards worth RMB 50 as a token of appreciation.
While organizing this event, the Lab on Roof Rags Drum Committee accumulated further experience and lessons. We have concluded that the annual call for submissions, in its present form, no longer suits the needs of today’s readers and critics. This year’s annual call will be the last for the foreseeable future. In its place, we will work toward a regularly published “online dōjin magazine.” Details will be announced shortly, and we hope everyone will follow and support the project when the time comes.
Changing trains with fate—may we meet again in the future.
Lab on Roof Rags Drum Committee
October 28, 2022