2024 / CONCEPT EXPERIMENT
Blind Dating Market Festival
Social Issue Research & Narrative Spatial Translation
Blind Dating Market Festival examines how information is presented, filtered and judged during matchmaking. Observations of real-world introductions and conversations are translated into game mechanisms for persona packaging, matching, trust and outside evaluation. Six connected spaces trace a participant’s journey, making the hidden processes of self-promotion and relationship judgement tangible through choices, feedback and multiple possible outcomes.
- TYPE
- Interactive narrative · 3D spaces · Concept film
- STAGE
- Concept design and visualisation
Matchmaking, information and judgement
Can limited information and quick judgements reveal who someone really is?
Multiple entry points
Matchmaking markets, introductions, dating apps, social platforms and television shows form online and offline entry points. Across these settings, participants face the same task: present themselves and assess someone else within a limited time.
People become comparable profiles
To make screening more efficient, complex personal characteristics become comparable criteria: appearance, finances, career potential, family background, relationship history and personality. Display, comparison, filtering and matching shape the way people evaluate a relationship.
From introduction to packaging
The project examines introductions and conversational language in matchmaking markets, dating apps and introductions through intermediaries. Highlighting strengths, downplaying risk and polishing language create a persona that meets expectations, raising questions about the distance between a presentation and a person.
The language of persona packaging
“A home and a car; no worries after marriage”
“A comfortable family background; no pressure”
“Open-minded parents who never interfere”
“Easy-going and pleasant to be around”
“Well-educated and highly capable”
“I will always support you”
Translate matchmaking into game mechanisms
Real-world presentation, packaging and judgement become a continuous experience. Participants introduce themselves, build profiles, undergo matching, verify information and encounter outside evaluation before reaching a relationship outcome. Choices can feed back into the next matching cycle.
- 01Invitation HallEnter the matchmaking market
- 02Love FactoryTurn information into a profile
- 03Lucky CarnivalSelect and match a partner
- 04Additive RoulettePackage, promote and test
- 05Theater of GazeEncounter outside judgement
- 06Dating ParadiseReach a relationship outcome
Attribute system
Translate matchmaking criteria into attributes and tags.
Persona packaging
Make self-presentation a strategic choice.
Matching mechanism
Filter across multiple dimensions and pair profiles.
Trust verification
Verify the credibility of information through interaction.
Outside pressure
Allow family and social judgement to intervene.
Multiple outcomes
Let different choices lead to different relationship outcomes.
FESTIVALPERSONA PACKAGING
Attribute system
Translate matchmaking criteria into attributes and tags.
Persona packaging
Make self-presentation a strategic choice.
Matching mechanism
Filter across multiple dimensions and pair profiles.
Trust verification
Verify the credibility of information through interaction.
Outside pressure
Allow family and social judgement to intervene.
Multiple outcomes
Let different choices lead to different relationship outcomes.
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Touchpoints
Multiple channels form the entry chain. Online and offline touchpoints.
Motivation
Relationship needs drive participation. Motivation shapes judgement.
Data model
Personal information becomes tags. Combined tags form a profile.
Strategy
Presentation influences matching. Strategy shapes relationship outcomes.
Rules of Love
- Package yourself in moderation. Exaggeration may affect later matches.
- Expect to be observed. Family and friends can affect your dating journey.
- Treat compliments carefully. Some language may be deliberately designed and packaged.
- Value the current opportunity. Your date may be considering other options.
Six spaces. One matchmaking festival.
相亲营销嘉年华
Select a scene name to read its chapter.
Invitation Hall
The marketing game begins as candidates step onto their presentation stages. Identity, conditions and matching status become public exhibits, while participants begin assessing others through what is shown.
Presentation stage
Publicly displays candidates’ identities and matching status.
Monitoring eye
An eye-shaped surveillance device searches for potential dates.
Love cards
A potential candidate lies behind every card.
Love television
Loops popular matching cases and successful pairings.
Love Factory
The Love Factory produces the “ideal partner”. After the initial presentation, participants enter an assembly line that turns appearance, occupation, income, family background and emotional needs into standardised tags. These become a dating profile recorded in a central database for screening and matching.
Furnace of love
Participants enter the furnace for value reshaping and identity processing.
Mechanical gears
The system disassembles and reassembles information into standardised profiles.
Dating résumé
The processed self-description is stored for matching. A complete presentation does not guarantee authenticity.
Lucky Carnival
A giant machine continuously feeds participants’ information into the central system. Its rotation generates new pairings. When a match succeeds, the central heart lights up and profiles appear on either side. Music announces the encounter, turning matching into a public ceremony shaped by both information and chance.
Celebration horn
Celebratory music announces a successful pairing and the start of the date.
Matching machine
The moving machine and profile displays form the matching ceremony.
Additive Roulette
In conversation, participants use self-promotion and exaggeration to amplify their strengths and attract the other person. The roulette makes these invisible strategies tangible through reagents, time and feedback: a gain in appeal can come with a change in credibility.
Time roulette
Represents passing time and relationship opportunities.
Lie reagents
Amplifies strengths while reducing credibility, making the degree of self-promotion visible.
Theater of Gaze
Relationship judgement extends beyond the two participants. Parents, friends and onlookers enter the dating process with their own standards, advice and interventions. These voices form a pressure mechanism that repeatedly prompts participants to reconsider their choices.
The gaze of others
Outside eyes continually watch participants and influence their judgement.
Parental scrutiny
Parents assess the potential partner against their own standards and intervene in the relationship.
Voices of others
Friends and relatives offer opinions that redirect participants’ choices.
Dating Paradise
Face-to-face dates, relationship games and rotating tea cups form the final space. Participants get closer through repeated conversations and testing, while family and friends continue watching. Immersion in romantic fantasy and persona packaging can gradually obscure the distinction between a real relationship and a performance.
Face-to-face dating
Continue exploring expectations and information through face-to-face conversation.
The love game
Test the other person’s intentions through interaction and strategy.
The rotating tea party
Romantic fantasy and continued testing shape the relationship outcome.
From separate spaces to one journey
The concept film connects all six spaces through character actions, system feedback and spatial transitions. It follows entry into the matchmaking market, profile creation, partner selection, information verification, outside evaluation and relationship outcomes, integrating the mechanisms and fictional world into one continuous experience.
