What overarching theme, research area, or guiding question would you like to investigate for your Capstone project? (approx. 250 words)

For my Capstone project, I want to explore how dating apps and matchmaking systems shape the way we think about intimacy, value, and rejection. These platforms do more than connect people. They also structure how individuals are presented, filtered, and chosen. By turning personal profiles into swipable options, dating apps create a cycle of attraction, judgment, and disappearance, which often makes intimacy feel more like competition or shopping.

I am interested in comparing the logics of dating apps with more traditional forms of matchmaking, such as xiangqin (相亲) in China, where profiles are simplified into labels like income, education, or family background. Both systems highlight how personal relationships are tied to visibility, numbers, and social expectations, but they frame intimacy in different cultural ways.

My guiding question is: what does it mean to seek connection in systems that promise closeness while also making people interchangeable? I want to investigate how different app functions, like swiping limits, women-first messaging, or university-specific platforms, shape users’ experience of choice and rejection.

Through an interactive installation or a live performance, I aim to translate these digital and cultural structures into a physical and immersive journey, where audiences can move through stages such as matching, filtering, public display, and rejection. The project highlights the tension between desire and disposability, intimacy and commodification, and asks how technology and culture together influence our recognition of love and relationships today.

Which texts, artworks, media, or other intellectual or creative influences have shaped your interest in this area of research?

My project is shaped by sociologist Eva Illouz’s idea of “cold intimacies”, which looks at how love and emotion are influenced by consumer culture. This idea helps me think about how dating apps turn intimacy into something that feels transactional and distant, even when it looks personal.

I also connect this to cultural practices like xiangqin (相亲) marriage markets in China, where young people’s identities are shown on simple paper résumés, reducing them to checklists and making them feel like products on display. In media, I notice similar things in reality dating shows or even playful “pet matchmaking” events, where dating becomes a kind of performance for an audience. I am also inspired by short videos such as “Can We Date This Man?”, which mix humor and critique to show how dating culture can flatten people into objects of quick judgment.

Here are some posts on xiaohongshu where I got inspirations from:

宠物相亲：50 【笑晕了🤣大家的相亲简历好精彩❗️ - 第五届杭州宠物文化节 | 小红书 - 你的生活兴趣社区】 😆 MLDoHVY4uXXRbAk 😆 https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/6804d1db000000001c01de0e?source=webshare&xhsshare=pc_web&xsec_token=ABQwAZzrxhP74OfOz_hSo8izcWp0f0TeKN_dRs2e6C1pg=&xsec_source=pc_share

Can we date this man?: 27 【这个公司名下有辆车的百强留学生能谈吗 - Amber2.0 | 小红书 - 你的生活兴趣社区】 😆 GtA3TWxsOvoXnNa 😆 https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/684814a4000000002102eb16?source=webshare&xhsshare=pc_web&xsec_token=AB7nG6PTOTmkuRfGeCijiU1Eq3VrfP_nC2C4xf27wrq90=&xsec_source=pc_share

生辰八字作品：1 【在天坛公园相亲角存活了半天 - 知旖 | 小红书 - 你的生活兴趣社区】 😆 3tjqHr1SGox8cgU 😆 https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/66fe7f8c000000001902e2e1?source=webshare&xhsshare=pc_web&xsec_token=ABZcsGBO2BPxtzAB90ReAxfyJKFS4ID87TU8HQRuUejY4=&xsec_source=pc_share

毕业展相亲作品：16 【520在央美相亲 - 美物有言Artful Tales | 小红书 - 你的生活兴趣社区】 😆 XyRSqbllZwgoIkc 😆 https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/682c152e0000000021019750?source=webshare&xhsshare=pc_web&xsec_token=ABYkoZi4syjraXSYzKQUepPzqFi-3vnuo41l6DbqwviaE=&xsec_source=pc_share

Which projects - either theoretical or practical - from your recent years of study are you most proud of?*

Please include links to blog posts, videos, or other documentation that showcase your work.

NIME Final(Arduino Live Performance): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ez48h85Mg8h-s1zIBhsdeJfc3pcibgEh/view?usp=drive_link

Nature of Code Final (p5js + Arduino): https://www.instagram.com/p/C9kssoNSM1b/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==