Xū Shí News / 戌時新聞 · 2022
TrueFakeNews
An interactive installation that makes misinformation physical: as people move through the space, their path tampers with the projected news in front of them.
Watch the 2:31 project film
- Role
- Concept · Visual Design · Project Management
- Format
- Interactive installation
- Interaction
- Movement-triggered news distortion
01The premise
A careless step can alter what looks true.
Turn invisible interference into something the body can feel.
The project asks viewers to walk in front of a news projection. An overhead camera detects their movement, and the corresponding areas of the story shift between positive and negative framings.
Human movement stands for human interference. An unintentional interaction can still change whether information appears true or false.
02The name
One sound.
Two meanings.
Reading A
戌時Xū Shí
The traditional 7–9 p.m. period — an evening hour when many people watch the news.Reading B
虛實False / True
A Mandarin homophone that holds the project’s central tension in its name.03The interaction
Your path becomes the edit.
The viewer does not press a button or choose a side. Simply moving through the room changes the story.
- 01
Walk
A visitor enters and crosses the marked area in front of the projection.
- 02
Detect
A camera mounted above tracks where movement occurs across the installation.
- 03
Distort
The corresponding news blocks transition to an alternate version of the same topic.
04Two framings
The facts do not have to disappear for the meaning to change.
Each topic was designed in two editorial directions. As a tracked body crosses screen zones, selected image, headline, and ticker blocks move between those versions.
“New US–UK medical research: mosquito DNA used to produce antibodies.”
“Mosquitoes spread COVID-19: global panic as the outbreak returns.”
These paired headlines are fictional content created for the installation, not factual reporting.
05Project film
02:31 · Chinese titles and news audio · English guide below
Watch the complete exhibition story.
English viewing guide
The film, translated by idea and sequence.
The guide follows the full film from title to credits.- 01
A name with two readings
Glitch graphics assemble into 戌時新聞. The title explains that 戌時 is the traditional 7–9 p.m. period, while its homophone 虛實 means “false and true.”
- 02
Entering the installation
The camera enters the exhibition. A projected invitation asks visitors to walk freely in front of the screen, followed by the first mosquito-news example.
- 03
The central idea
Each topic contains opposing versions. Movement changes corresponding blocks, making an unintentional gesture a metaphor for human interference.
- 04
From footprints to a first live test
A glowing path becomes physical floor markers. A participant approaches, and image and caption regions in the mosquito broadcast begin to blend and swap.
- 05
Visitors reshape several stories
Tea, mosquito, and newspaper-style stories change by section while visitors watch, move, and record the installation.
- 06
One page, conflicting signals
A close-up AI article switches its positive and negative headline states independently before the film transitions behind the interface.
- 07
Behind the system
The film reveals the implementation and identifies Python, OpenCV, and MediaPipe as the technology stack.
- 08
Six tracked regions
Diagnostic views show a participant mapped to one of six zones. Mosquito, tea, and fitness examples reveal individual headlines, images, body copy, and sidebars switching state.
- 09
False and true, recombined
The closing typography combines 戌時新聞 and 虛實新聞, then ends with the credit “Film by Xin-yi, Cheng.”
06The system
Track a position.
Switch a content state.
The film identifies the build as Python, OpenCV, and MediaPipe. The camera feed maps a participant to one of six zones, while the renderer blends paired visual states in the corresponding news block.
07My contribution
Concept design.
Visual design.
Project management.
I shaped the interaction concept, designed the projected news language, and managed the project. The final installation turns a familiar media format into a physical reminder: not every distortion is deliberate, but every interference can still change the story.
