Design Map · Eindhoven
Terra R.O.M.
Graduation project by Xuan Liu at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘Terra R.O.M.’ is a narrative-driven video game that explores the buried stories of the Bayan Obo mining district in Inner Mongolia, home to the world’s largest rare earth mine. With its minerals powering almost every digital device, Bayan Obo has become a geopolitical symbol — a strategic reserve, a bargaining chip and a measure of national strength. Overwritten by extraction, the landscape disappears behind its own significance.
After Xuan Liu’s own field recordings and photographs were deleted on request during research, he began recovering lost data, local stories and censored geographical information, reconstructing the landscape as an explorable digital world. As players navigate the game, a blue-light scanner activates rare earth phosphors in the installation, guiding visitors towards recovering stories. Bringing together material extraction and information control, the project explores how political narratives persist through censorship and selective erasure, and uses play to create alternative narratives.