Design Map · Eindhoven
You Met Me At A Very Chinese Time In My Life
Graduation project by Kai Rasmussen at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
How has social media reshaped the way the West imagines China? ‘You Met Me At A Very Chinese Time In My Life’ is an installation centred on a speculative travel agency that explores the impact of the Chinamaxxing meme that went viral in 2026. The project draws on field research in China, interviews with content creators and the study of online platforms to examine how internet culture is influencing geopolitical narratives. Visitors are invited to “travel“ to China through an immersive photo booth and video before entering the installation’s backstage: a reconstruction of the artist’s own room, where research into algorithmic influence was conducted. By transforming a viral internet trend into a spatial encounter, it reveals how digital media not only shapes perceptions of distant places but also positions individuals as translators, travellers and participants in the continuous negotiation of cultural identity.