SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

The project “Under the Name of Education” provides a socio-economic criticism of current education systems in the US and China. The project investigated the historical, structural, and ideological problems in the US and China’s education systems through literature reviews, fieldwork research, and interviews. The research outcome is a multi-projector installation depicting a person’s educational trajectory from childhood upbringing to graduate school. The installation utilizes archival footage, animations, and experimental films to destruct the inner mechanism of the education system. The use of symbols and abstract visualization through multi-media enables the audience to connect their own educational experiences with the protagonist inside the film/animation visually and psychologically. This installation also enables the audience to see how different stakeholders and economic and political conditions construct the education system we see today. The embedded films and animations explore the problems of indoctrination of youth, score-oriented education, high cost of schooling, education as a diploma, and lack of academic freedom faced by current education systems. By experimenting with visualization and exploring the underlying mechanism inside the education system, the project provides its visual solution to the potential problems and advocates for a rethinking of how education becomes the way it is and how it could be changed for the better.