"Seeing the Unseen" is a speculative design project that explores the narrative behind the complex mechanisms of power hidden in society. The project is inspired by the film "2001 a Space Odyssey". Its narrative plots are associated with the real physical space of Dalian Zhongshan Square, in an attempt to find a narrative logic that renders the mechanism behind the city's operation. I was bound by what I saw, but now I discovered that it is the unseen mechanism that matters. If the truth needs to be communicated through narrative, it will always be hidden within the production mechanism of the narrative structure.

The three appearances of obsidian in the film suggested three leaps in human cognition. Thus, I conceived an above-ground world and an underground virtual world. By analyzing the historical elements of Zhongshan Square, I extracted 3D abstract archetypes as a reflection on the events of foreign colonial aggression in the WW2 period. Then I designed 6 installations, implying the different forces beneath the square. For example, the suture system, The camera language and the narrative logic in the film put the tentacles of the mechanism behind it deep into every community, controlling the lives of the masses, effectively erasing any trace of the functioning of the ideological machine. However, the factory in today's global production system is like a huge furnace in which each individual is re-forged and transformed into what the job requires.

Finally, I used comics to depict an unknown world below the square, to expose the mechanisms of production hidden within the social narrative structure. Underground and above-ground objects correspond to each other, one is chaotic and messy, and the other is cold and mechanical. The readers hold the USER'S GUIDE BOOK in the first person and participate in the construction of the narrative, understanding and questioning the scenarios of life that they take for granted. The project encourages individuals to rethink and critique the social narrative and the mechanisms of power behind it. It raises people's awareness of shifting perspectives and offers an alternative way to think about our history and daily life.

"Seeing because you believe, not believing because you see."

-- Rabindranath Tagore

"I was bound by what I saw, but now I discovered that it is the unseen mechanism that matters." When I was standing in Zhongshan Square, the complex history and reality around me annihilated me. I was thinking if the truth needs to be communicated through narrative, it will always be hidden within the production mechanism of the narrative structure. "Seeing the Unseen" is a speculative design project about cognition, history, and narration, inspired by the film "2001 a Space Odyssey".

The three appearances of obsidian in the film suggested three leaps in human cognition. It discusses the 3 stages of awareness. The first stage is the awareness of the world around you: from knowing the unrecognizable to the recognizable. The next is from knowing the visible and accessible to the invisible and inaccessible and finally is starting to know the invisible and the inaccessible. By combing through the narrative structure of the film I got a logical framework for making realistic discourse.

Zhongshan Square was originally built in 1898 as Nikolayevskaya Square when the Russian Empire controlled Dalian. When Manchuria came under Japanese rule, it was renamed by the Japanese to 'Ohiroba'. The various buildings, with their associated functions and the activities that take place within them, reflect the history of colonization at the time. The factory in a global production system is like a huge furnace in which each individual is re-forged and transformed into what the job requires, and there is only a single discourse under centralized control.

The Bagua is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. Bagua explores the nature of everything in a fluid perspective. So I designed an underground world beneath the square as a Yin-Yang reflection of the real world. Then I designed 6 installations, implying the different forces beneath the square. For example, the SUTURE SYSTEM: the narrative logic put the tentacles of the mechanism behind it deep into every community, controlling the lives of the masses, effectively erasing any trace of the functioning of the ideological machine. The MANUFACTURING CENTER: Capital flows and operates within the production centers, and social capital and labor ferment within the production centers to create social wealth. The global division of labor forces workers to participate in different jobs. Trusses and scaffolding cover the production center, surrounded by tall gates to allow workers access. The cylindrical workshop in the center is a confidential production center, in a situation similar to that of a circular prison under surveillance. The top of the factory is covered with searchlights to monitor workers' movements around the clock. The NARRATOR: The narrative mechanism is the output machine of the ideology of the underworld, and as a whole resembles a tower full of speakers, conveying in all directions the messages from the hidden, harbored by the stitched system. Most of this information is false, only the parts that the rule makers of this world are willing to let be heard. The PEOPLE: The people are the smallest unit of this mechanism, like a signal receiver, receiving a constant stream of instructions from the mechanism. It is also a meeting place for people, although it is hollowed out on all sides and does not offer even the slightest bit of privacy.

Finally, I designed a USER's GUIDE BOOK. I hope the readers can participate in the construction of the narrative in the first person, understanding and questioning the scenarios of life that they take for granted. You're the hero of the comic strip. You've been living in the area of Zhongshan Square, and one day you accidentally get a map and realize that there's an underground world in a place you're familiar with. Thinking back on your day-to-day life: you get up in the morning, and as a corporate slave you need to go to work before dawn. The company's cubicles are like prison cells, where you work from morning till night. Therefore, you decide to venture into the underworld. With the transition between yin and yang, you take an aircraft to the underground of the square. The craft travels freely between structures and has mechanical grippers underneath that can be grasped and placed inside the central chamber. The four huge LED screens can be extended and folded to project the grabbed objects onto the LED screens for promotional or warning purposes. You come to the inner workings of the production mechanism, where you work under the watchful eye of surveillance cameras daily. Real-world inequalities, centralization, and power relations are all starkly magnified here.

The project encourages individuals to reflect on the social narrative and the mechanisms of power behind their own culture and background. Hopefully, people will be able to embrace more systems of discourse than a single dictatorship in a time of turmoil. Everyone has the right to know the truth, and it is only by clearing away the mists and disturbed surfaces that we can gain insights into the truths hidden behind history and socio-culture.