The recently concluded exhibition Antique: Interpreting Time through Interactive UI/UX and Media Art at Memor Museum in New York, which ran from August 23 to September 9, 2024 brought together a diverse array of works exploring how digital design, individual identity, and temporal experience intersect in our increasingly media-saturated world. Curated by Mouhui Sun, the exhibition invited viewers to investigate the complexities of how time, space, and technology mediate our sense of self and reality, while also raising critical questions about capitalism, surveillance, and the commodification of human experience.
Exhibition Poster. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
Across the different works, the exhibition posed a key question: how do we navigate our identities, spaces, and relationships in a world shaped by ever-accelerating digital technologies? As Antique has now ended, a retrospective glance reveals its lasting contribution to the contemporary discourse on the role of design, technology, and media art in shaping our lived experiences.
Lingering Echoes of Time: A Meditation on Waiting and Connection
The exhibition’s highlight, Xinhui Chen’s Lingering Echoes of Time, invited viewers to reflect on the nature of delayed communication. Through an evocative motion graphic that combined natural elements such as fog, water, and light, Chen crafted an immersive journey into the emotional and temporal spaces between intent and reception. This work was a profound commentary on the tension between the increasing demand for instantaneous communication and the slower rhythms of emotional understanding.
Chen’s work also reflected on the alienation produced by our reliance on technology, particularly under the pressures of capitalist productivity. By focusing on the delay—the time it takes for a message to arrive and be understood—Lingering Echoes of Time asked viewers to consider how digital technology, while facilitating rapid connection, often fails to nurture deeper, more meaningful human relationships. In a world where “real-time” communication is prized, Chen’s piece served as a poignant reminder of the value of lingering and waiting, both crucial elements for any authentic exchange.
Lingering Echoes of Time, Xuhui Chen. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
DropHouses: Space as a Shaper of Identity
Sizhe Huang’s DropHouses offered an intriguing exploration of how physical environments—whether real or imagined—shape our personal and collective identities. The video-based work featured a series of imaginative, abstracted interiors, symbolizing the invisible social and architectural forces that dictate how individuals perceive themselves within their surroundings. The work called attention to the fact that our environments are not neutral; they carry histories, ideologies, and power dynamics that mold how we see ourselves and others.
DropHouses, Sizhe Huang. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
QR Monument: Design as a Commentary on Society
In Ye Tian’s QR Monument, the everyday QR code—ubiquitous in modern society—was transformed into a monumental symbol of progress and technological evolution. However, Tian’s work wasn’t just a celebration of the QR code as a useful tool. Instead, it was a sharp commentary on how design often reinforces capitalist structures, turning every aspect of life into something traceable, marketable, and commodified.
The QR code, though mundane, became in Tian’s hands a symbol of the modern digital infrastructure that shapes our lives, from purchasing to tracking movements. Her ironic elevation of this functional object into a “monument” highlighted the deeper implications of design in an age of surveillance capitalism. QR Monument raised questions about who benefits from the seemingly “neutral” design decisions embedded in our technological tools, and how such tools invisibly shape the way we interact with the world.
QR Museum, Ye Tian. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
Jing Wang: Urban Space as Cultural Conduit
Jing Wang’s work took a more urban focus, inspired by the pathways, streets, and intersections of the city. To Wang, these spaces were not just physical locations, but cultural vessels that facilitate exchanges and connections between people. Her work transformed the abstract idea of the city into tangible digital forms, reflecting on the ways in which cities are sites of both movement and meaning.
With urbanization increasingly driven by neoliberal priorities that prioritize profit over public good, Wang’s work suggested that cities—despite their commercialization—remain critical spaces for cultural interaction and resistance. In a way, Wang’s exploration paralleled the ways in which digital spaces now perform similar functions, with social media and digital design acting as new platforms for interaction and exchange.
Pattern Leap, Jing Wang. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
Wantiii: Compassionate Design for Precarious Times
The exhibition concluded with Wantiii, a collaborative project by Junru Xu and Zixi Liu. Designed to support new graduates navigating the complex and often dehumanizing job market, Wantiii provided tools for organizing job applications while prioritizing user well-being. Xu and Liu’s work combined functionality with empathy, recognizing the immense pressure and emotional strain caused by the precarious labor conditions under neoliberal capitalism.
What made Wantiii stand out was its human-centered design. By addressing not only practical but also emotional needs, Xu and Liu demonstrated that digital tools need not replicate the alienation of the systems they aim to navigate. Instead, thoughtful design can provide not just efficiency but also compassion, offering users a sense of agency and support.
Wantiii, Junru Xu and Zixi Liu. Image Courtesy of Memor Museum.
A Shared Thread: Time, Space, and Technology in the Digital Age
The exhibition Antique skillfully connected the works of these artists and designers through its focus on the mediation of time, space, and identity in the digital age. Whether through Chen’s meditation on the emotional weight of delayed communication, Huang’s interrogation of how environments shape self-perception, or Tian’s critique of the invisible power dynamics behind design, each piece contributed to a larger narrative: that our experiences of the world are deeply shaped by the tools and spaces we inhabit.
The exhibition’s selection was juried by Sean Guo, a Los Angeles-based product and footwear designer with expertise in 3D creation and digital technology. Currently a 3D designer at Skechers and co-founder of Mackerel Design Studio, Guo brings a unique blend of creativity and technical skill. His experience in top-tier design studios ensured that the chosen works reflected cutting-edge innovation while exploring the relationship between personal identity and societal structures. Guo’s ability to combine bold, imaginative design with practical functionality aligned perfectly with the exhibition’s themes.
Mouhui Sun, the curator, brought over a decade of experience in brand strategy, graphic design, and exhibition curation. As the founder of AAAAH!, a cultural initiative spotlighting Asian artistic talent, Sun is known for creating dynamic and engaging cultural narratives. In Antique, her vision seamlessly connected diverse voices, offering a cohesive reflection on how technology, design, and identity intersect in today’s world. Sun’s passion for fostering critical dialogue through art made the exhibition both immersive and thought-provoking.
As the exhibition closed on September 9, 2024, Antique left behind a resonant message: that while digital technologies may shape our present and future, they are also tools we can use to challenge, resist, and reimagine the worlds we want to inhabit.
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Country: United States
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