"Memories of Li Jianguo" is an interactive experience installation that uses the memoir of an elderly man born during the founding of the People's Republic of China as an interactive narrative. By flipping through records from different eras, the surrounding scene changes, awakening the viewer's memories of the times through a multi-threaded experience of text, photos, scenes, and sounds from seventy years. The work imbues traditional linear museum displays with a more three-dimensional and narrative quality, transforming historical materials from a 2D medium to 3D and 4D through interaction, finding memory between the real and the virtual, the changing and the constant.

This work was selected for the Outstanding Coursework Exhibition of the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Collective Memory: A Digital Spatial Experience and Communication Design for 20th-Century Cultural Heritage

Different eras have distinct spiritual outlooks and cultural characteristics. The images and sounds of those times can often awaken the memories of a generation, and a generation's collective memory is the memory of an era. Coherent collective memory can objectively reflect the country's development and the changes in people's lives, helping us better understand and feel history. At the same time, the collective memories of different eras can evoke empathy from viewers of different generations, spontaneously transforming collective memory into personal memory, making the viewer a part of the design and thus enriching the interactive experience.

Compared to the awe-inspiring ancient cultural relics, the "younger" heritage of the 20th century is equally significant in historical, scientific, cultural, social, and spiritual terms. The need to enhance cultural soft power and public aesthetic appreciation has driven innovation in museum experiences. The emergence of natural interaction, the Internet of Things, and integrated media has brought new possibilities for new experiences. Combining new demands, new technologies, and new ideas, we propose a digital spatial experience and communication design for 20th-century cultural heritage.

① Information Collection and Organization

We borrowed two books related to 20th-century cultural heritage from the library—"Impression of China: Sixty Years of Livelihood Memories" and "China Living Memory: 65 Years of Livelihood"—to understand the collective memories of the past. Using these as core references, we searched the internet for related video and audio recordings, old photos, literary works, memoirs, and documents. We organized the materials chronologically from 1950 to 2010, with each decade as a cycle, using stories as the connecting thread.

② Memoir Design

Through collecting audio-visual materials, images, and texts, we began to build a storyline to carry the memories and visualized parts of the story and images in the form of a memoir. The protagonist, named Li Jianguo, was born on October 1, 1949. From his birth to 2010, he experienced the 1950s of exchanging food with ration coupons, the 1960s of responding to Chairman Mao's call to go to the countryside, the 1970s of preparing for the college entrance examination again, the 1980s of getting a color TV, the 1990s of traveling to Beijing to experience a new life, and the new century of celebrating the Olympic Games.