Design Map · Eindhoven
Theatre of replacement
Graduation project by Bianca Maria Negrini at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘Theatre of Replacement’ explores how fictional narratives acquire political force. Prompted by the designer’s encounters with posters promoting the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory during the 2025 Italian citizenship referendum, the project shifts attention from whether conspiracy theories are true or false to how they shape collective imagination and material reality. Drawing on political theory, dramaturgy and participatory performance, the work takes the form of an interactive theatrical installation without actors or a fixed narrative. Two parallel textual realities coexist on separate stages, one echoing conspiratorial discourse and the other offering a reparative narrative grounded in relation, transformation and shared memory. Rather than treating conspiracy theories solely as political discourse, the installation examines their structure through the concept of transindividuality, asking how stories position audiences as both spectators and participants.