Jacob Zeng

Statues of Control is an installation that explores the dual meaning of propaganda through statues, prompting a rethinking of what is “fake” in public space.

I present two opposing states—one statue rising, the other falling—mirroring the tension between trust and collapse. The rising statue represents how prop aganda constructs “trust,” telling people what to believe. In contrast, the collapsing statue reveals how these manufactured ideals eventually falter in real life—how the trust once built can “collapse”.

By placing the rising and falling statues together, I invite the audience to ask: What counts as fake? Who decides what deserves to stand tall in public? What must be hidden, erased, or destroyed for some thing to be “statuefied”?