Bingjie Niu

Information Experience Design (MA)

3d print — In the exhibition, three of the models will be presented at full scale, accompanied by a series of miniature “pseudo-souvenirs.”

film — Drawing from documentary footage, historical archives, and visual materials, the work selects archetypal sites and objects from workers’ everyday lives and translates the repetition of labor into spatial compositions and formal symbols.

This three-minute animated video presents a speculative journey through the industrial ruins of Shenyang’s Tiexi District. Blending archival textures with fictional narration, the animation visualizes how nostalgia distorts collective memory, transforming sites of labor into sanitized aesthetic experiences.

About

Bingjie Niu is a designer and artist with a background in architecture. With a strong foundation in spatial thinking and built environments, Bingjie’s practice bridges architecture, visual design, and interactive media. She often combines physical and digital elements to create immersive, narrative-driven experiences that invite viewers to reflect on the politics of memory and design.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃𓂃

Haunting Labor explores how industrial ruins are aestheticized in contemporary culture, revealing how nostalgic representations often erase the histories of labor, pain, and collective trauma they embody.

Through scale models, pseudo-souvenirs, and installation, the work critically reinterprets the Tiexi District in Shenyang—once a symbol of China’s heavy industry—highlighting the complex interplay between memory, materiality, and design. It challenges audiences to reconsider what is remembered, what is forgotten, and who benefits from such curated narratives.

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