Issue: double identity-having two kinds of life/personalities Keywords: diverse features, hidden character, distinguishment, interaction, secret chamber Object(s): a secret box Material: Wood/Polyester resin After days of sample testing, reasons why I choose wood/ polyester resin: 1. very different material features-color/tactility/temperature. Wood is natural warm, solid, porous and alive;the crystal clear polyester resin is man-made, has fluid states, adhesive, transparent and dead. 2. Polyester resin is proved to be great for embedding(especially for organic materials, in this case XOR Giessharz-"bioplastic"), for it is not sensitive to moisture. 3. The two materials combine well. Because of the right viscosity the polyester resin "hug" the wood part really well. It is crystal clear and there is enough flexibility as well as strength. There is no cracks on the edge. In general, the two materials in combined in one object can appear very diverse characters and also has harmonious combination and interaction between the two materials, can create good metaphor-two different identities, interacting, one overflow, overcoming another. How and why I choose the carrier/subject of the story-the secret box: At the beginning, I am convinced that the "hero" of the story-the object should be something appears in everyday life. Like tableware, kitchenware. They are close to the very detailed daily routine thus close to the identity/personality of the one who use them. Then, how can I make the behaviour around this object relate to the double life problem? Being just a plate or a bowl with two different materials, it makes sense if we just look at the objects, but it hardly involves people around it. Maybe it should. Then I step back to a not-so-specific level. How can the object have a meaning, with human around it? The issue of "two souls" should not only be addressed by this meaning , and also been made stronger by this meaning. SO IT MAKES SENSE. Everything comes clear when I look at the behaviour of someone who has a double life again. Living one life, there are always small things, as clues, to prove the existance of another life. (It could be a photo, a postcard, a key, an used bus ticket, a receipt...anything) I personally have a habit of collecting all those things everytime I have been living in somewhere new. No matter how hard one hides the character/ experience, it is what it is. The "hero" becomes clear-a container.For secretive/public life, for showing and hiding, character seen and unseen. The object on one hand has protential usage, connection and interaction to the audience, and allows imagination of the people using it, on the other hand can be interpreted as a person with character itself.
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For the project of Doppelleben, I want to work with the distinguish between two lives and the consequence of it. This addresses the issue of double or multi-identity, or more commonly, the constant longing for life elsewhere, or life of others(the so called "wonderlust" or escapism). The chioces or questions I need to face are mainly: 1.For life in two places(situations, states, modes), do I really want to solve a problem? The way I see the problem is from a level of identity confusion. It is on a psychological level and it involve the issues of values and beliefs. When facing the fact that the society is questing us to play different roles, the act of identity switching is very common in life, as long as one is involved in social activity. However it only becomes a problem when the distinguishment of the difference of the life states become extreme, and cause the incontinuous of behaviour, especially when it is done unconciously. For most people, the multi-mind states is not so extreme to be called "identity disorder". But we all suffer more or less from the issue of double identity or double life. Here I am not talking about the objective problems like in a life of commuting, the problem between flexibility and usability. ( I am not against the useful design of changing the way of mobility or new solutions for travelling issues. However I find it is not the keyword for me in this project). It is the issue of identity loss I want to work with. It is metaphisical, and psychological. And to make a proper "solution" to it, I think in the design level the attempt is usually ineffective. Or we can say, for emotions and pychological states, the solution is usually not physically obvious and "curing the illness" for real. 2. Is there anything me, as a designer can do, to address the topic? The answer is absolutely yes. At least for me, there is a more comfortable and somehow efficient way to find a way in the topic of identities. The moment we put the issue of double life emotions into discussion, the quickest way to think of designing, is to make something to change the situation, in this case-eliminate the difference. I tried to work from this angle in the workshop we took-the pair of ear and month is the result of trying to make distant together experience. It is my first attempt to make a design solution. However, some issues like identity or emotions, has its hidden features. It is not obvious and objective. It is subtle so one cannot overdo any interpretation or solutions. To address the topic, the key word for me is the "expression". How do we describe the states of identity confusion, and the impact of it, instead of doing it in words, I try to do it in design. I try to tell a story like it is. I want to make objects with personalities("personfied objects") and use them as metaphors, which reflect the behaviour of people around them, in my story of double life. |