Seesaw Economy Manifesto

Peilong Ruan

Summary
Final work

Hello, world. I'm Peilong Ruan, a design lover from China whose work explores the space between philosophy and playfulness. With a deep love for toys, animals, and everyday absurdities, I create interactive experiences that transform abstract ideas into tangible, joyful encounters. My projects use humor, bodily movement, and gentle relationality to offer alternative ways of thinking about value, meaning and connection. I hope people can find small moments of hope and delight in my work.

Hello, world. I'm Peilong Ruan, a design lover from China whose work explores the space between p...

CollegeCentral Saint Martins
CourseMA Industrial Design
Graduation year2025

Is money limiting the way we can think about value?

Seesaw Economy Manifesto is a relational installation that reimagines value exchange through movement, imbalance, and play. Departing from the metaphor of the monetary system as scale—rational, static, and standardized—the project embraces the seesaw as a dynamic system of co-dependence, rhythm, and trust.

Two participants each place an image representing something they wish to exchange, and assign it personal value. They then describe the other’s offering using words, which are algorithmically weighted and cause the seesaw to tilt. The imbalance becomes an expressive choreography of mutual judgment, care, and negotiation. The experience ends with a printed “receipt” — a poetic document of the interaction.

Rather than critique existing systems, the work invites a joyful rethinking of balance, value, and expression through embodied interaction. It is a manifesto enacted through movement—a proposal to value differently.