Project Overview
Est@’s Funeral is a speculative design intervention centered on the collapse of a fictional pop idol’s public persona.
Following a scandal referred to as the “Double Gate Incident,” the idol Est@ announces a permanent withdrawal from the entertainment industry. Their carefully constructed public image disintegrates, media content is removed, and the management system dissolves.
In response, fan communities organize collective funeral ceremonies across multiple locations, treating the disappearance of the persona as a symbolic death.
Concept
The project explores the importance of “persona” in contemporary media culture.
In today’s social environment, public figures are often constructed through carefully managed narratives, emotional projection, and continuous media reinforcement. These constructed personas can become more influential than the individuals behind them.
When such a persona collapses, what disappears is not only an image, but also the collective belief system attached to it.
Est@ functions as a fictional case through which this mechanism is made visible.
Social Death
The project uses the notion of “social death” to describe the collapse of public identity.
Unlike physical death, social death occurs when a persona loses its legitimacy within collective perception. It is a process driven by media circulation, public judgment, and emotional withdrawal.
The funeral rituals staged in the project reflect how audiences participate in the construction and termination of public personas.
Experience
The project includes a staged funeral held in a physical space in Shanghai.
Participants perform as fan communities, enacting a collective ritual of mourning and closure. The ceremony follows familiar structures of fandom culture, but recontextualizes them as a reflection on identity breakdown.
After the ritual, participants are invited to reflect on similar experiences in everyday life—when trust in a person, role, or image collapses and leaves behind a form of symbolic absence.
Medium
Design Activism
Participatory Workshop
Design Fiction
概述
《艾斯塔的葬礼》围绕一个虚构偶像的人设崩塌事件展开。在被称为“双重门事件”的舆论危机之后，偶像艾斯塔宣布永久退出娱乐圈，其长期经营的公众形象随之瓦解，相关内容被下架，经纪体系也随之解体。作为回应，粉丝群体自发组织多地“葬礼仪式”，将这一人设的消失视为一种象征性的死亡事件。
概念
作品探讨“人设”在当代媒介文化中的重要性。在当今社会语境中，公众人物往往通过精心管理的叙事、情感投射与持续的媒介传播被不断建构。这些被建构的人设，有时甚至比其背后的真实个体更具影响力。当人设崩塌时，消失的不仅是一个形象，同时也包括围绕其形成的集体信念结构。
社会性死亡
作品借用“社会性死亡”的概念来描述公共身份的崩塌过程。与生理意义上的死亡不同，社会性死亡发生于一个人设在集体认知中失去合法性与存在基础的时刻。这一过程由媒体传播、公众判断与情感抽离共同推动。项目中的“葬礼仪式”反映了观众如何同时参与人设的建构与终结。
体验
项目在上海的实体空间中呈现一场被设计的“葬礼仪式”。参与者以粉丝群体的身份参与其中，通过一套结构化的集体行为完成对“人设死亡”的象征性悼念。仪式结束后，参与者被邀请回顾日常生活中的类似经验——当对某个人、角色或形象的信任崩塌时，所留下的情感与认知空缺。
媒介
设计行动主义
参与式工作坊
设计叙事