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Constrained Liberty for Ego Reconstruction
Wei Lun Wang / Social Design Master Programme Design Academy Eindhoven, 2014
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“ E g o i s a n i llu sion of imagi n ar y a nd i d eal self .� J a c q ues Lac an , Mi rro r S tag e
From Jacques Lacan’s Mirror Stage, ego is an illusion when a six to eighteen months old baby recognizes him or herself in the mirror, and becomes conscious of selfhood. It is the first time the child recognizes he or she is separated from others, and then begins the process of developing the distinct identity. However, this consciousness of self is based on imagination, which is an ideal and imaginary self, but not the true self. *
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“ T hi s wo rld m akes sure th at on e d o es no t to f in d on eself” Si e g f ri ed Krac au er
“ T he m o re co nstrain ts on e i m p o ses, the more on e f r e es o ne’s self .” I g o r S trav i n sk y
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/ Another Brick in the Wall, Pink Floyd 4
Abstract Ego is a dynamic process that formulates our conscious senses of self. It is changing through a continuously defined process in interaction with our surroundings. Our identities are constantly being reconstructed when the physical materials change. This process is chiefly based on balancing the conflict between individuals and expectations from society, and between individuals and the aspirations for successful examples in the society they live in. However, the design systems and objects nowadays frame a singular structure to constantly enhance human beings in current society. This over-defined situation creates a clear guideline and template for individuals to improve and modify toward a superhuman. These fixed definitions turn into limitations in our learning processes, and constrain the developments of Self with one ideal scenario.
The Other Tutorial attempts to reversely reposition these societal constraints as the liberation forces. It envisions the courses in the future to disable us and therefore to deviate from the collective standards. These courses include different aspects of life, which focus on appearance, expression, and movement respectively. Through the interactions with our body (skin), face, and limbs, they challenge the status and normalcy, isolate the external voices, expand personal spaces, slow the time flows, and evoke the neglected experiences. Under the current structure, these deviations are the trigger point to re-experience and redefine our relations between the self and our surroundings.
What could the future alternative be in rebuilding one’s ego with the attention of diversity? How can design liberate us from the societal constraints, which demand us to perfect ourselves with the only structure?
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Abstract
Co n t en t s
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Contents
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Abstract Introduction
Ego
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Constraint Of Now 18 Constraints As A Shadow Constraints Of Self-Images Constraints Of Words 24 Constraint As A Hero Constraint Of Tools
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Constraint In The Near Future 32 Human 2.0 38 Tools 2.0
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Another Constraint 46 Human2.1 50 Constraints And Silence As Personal Space 52 Constraints And Slow As Extension Of Awareness 54 Constraints As Sensory And Creativity Boosts 58 Constraints As Introspection
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Constraints As Liberation Force
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Conclusion References and Acknowledgements
Contents
Introd u c t io n One year ago, when I first saw this psychological theory from Jacques Lacan1, I was totally fascinated by his interpretation that ego is an illusion of the imaginary and ideal self. This definition just exactly connects to my personal experience, and led me to the research about how to redefine the way of constructing ego. Ever since I can remember, my personality has a lack of confidence and is full of self-doubt. When I confront others, I hardly can express and introduce myself with any positive feedback. I wonder what the reason is that causes this inferiority of myself, and this uncertainty of what I am capable of. When I look back to my education background in Taiwan, there is one famous street, Nan-Yan Street. Thousands of after-class schools are located here. These private classes range from music, language, art, science, sport, makeup, pose and etiquette, to every theme you can imagine. Everyone is striving for passing these exams, for getting the highest grades, for being the omnipotent person in this system. From your top to toe, there is one clear approach and right answer for you to learn. There is a frame for people to measure one’s value, and a formulation to characterize one’s ego. One famous joke is that you can study the classes here from six years old till you die. I noticed that my self-awareness developed from the system with a singular standard. It seems like the only approach to position my role in this society is following a defined template. My self-depression came from the failure to achieve this collective ideal of being human. I cannot stop doubting whether current society system is still capable of reflecting one as a distinct individual? Am I truly pursuing the ego that belongs to myself or belongs to society’s expectations? To me, we are living in the seemly free world bound by a big cage outside, which constrains us every single move and mind. The invisible string ties us and makes us feel that ”this is what we are supposed to do”. I asked myself the question, how can design help individuals to construct ego with the attentions of diversity, out of the societal expectations and pressures.
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Motivation
How can design liberate us from societal constraints?
How can design reposition the societal constraints as the liberation forces?
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Question
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/ Follow Me, Wang Qing-Song, 2003
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EGO
To begin with the analysis of reconstructing ego by constraints, I first looked at the definitions of what ego is and how it develops in the human mind. From this research, I summarized that ego/self can be redefined by interacting with physical objects, by balancing the expectations or demands from society, and by altering the one’s ideal examples. In the literal definition, ego is the self-image, which often refers to ”Self”, “I”, and “Identity”. This self-image is especially used to contrast with another self in this world, to consider that “I” am distinct from others, and is therefore used to construct the beliefs of what am I or who am I2.
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Ego
Ego/Self is the dynamic process
From the interaction in physical worl d In the interview with the Hu-Hua temple3, the abbess explained ego in spiritual perspectives. Buddhism sees ego as the “summation of others”. It is formulated by the “collection of the physical world”. People reflect and collect their self-images, by interacting with the material objects surrounded them. Bodies, movements, and mental statuses are constantly changing when the materials change. Therefore, ego is not an eternal entity. It is a dynamic process, and more like the running water in our life. Nevertheless, you can still seek balance between you and your surroundings, between your inner callings and the outside voices, and between “the authentic self” and “the persona”, which is the shell shaped by the surroundings and presented to the world.
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/ Interview with the Buddhist abbess, He-Hua Temple 20130828
Ego
Ego/Self is the balance
Of the confliction between you and society’s expectations In the psychological perspective4, on the other hand, ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interactions. It refers to all the beliefs, ideals, and values that shape and guide a person’s behaviors, thoughts, and personality. It is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in daily interaction with others. Ego identity is constructed through a series of stages in psychosocial development, according to Erik Erikson’s theory4. During the stage of “identity cohesion versus role confusion”, one focuses on exploring his or her independence and sense of self. Questions like “who am I” and “what can I be” are often raised during this period. This stage challenges one to balance the conflict between “the person one has come to be” and “the person society expects one to become”. If one’s self-trust, autonomy, and initiative are incomplete during early development, then identity crisis is likely to occur.
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Ego
Ego/Self is the aspiration
For the successful examples
From Sigmund Freud’s point of view5, the ideal ego is the metal picture of yourself at your best. It always includes the rules and standards that tell individuals how to behave and act while living in the society. These behaviors are from the approval of the role models, such as parental or other authority figures. Through the process of obeying these rules, it gradually builds up an image of what our ideal self is, or what the self should aspire to be. In psychoanalysis, this ideal self can be redefined by altering one’s successful standards or examples in the human mind6.
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Ego
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C o n straint s of Now
Constraints as a Shadow
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Constraints of self-images Constraints of words Constraint as a Hero Constraint of tools
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C o n strai n ts as a S h ado w
“Sin c e th e star t of civilization , man h as strived to pe r f ec t h imself , an d produc ed vast amoun t o f guidelin e to en ligh ten m en t an d per f e ction .“ K imberl y Snow
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Constraints of Now
After-school class according to Mark Bray is the shadow education system that reflects dominant value. The growing amount of private tutoring classes suggests greater extension of mainstream. We can see the private lessons as an epitome of our pursuing. This shadow education is a designed system for students to follow the trend that the society promotes6.
In recent years, compared to ten years ago the amount of after-school classes has more than doubled (18956 organizations with 1505491 students6). The emergences of new classes show meticulous attentions to every detail. These excessive courses not only teach knowledge, skills, or techniques, but also provide the learning of “proper” living styles and behavior patterns. They teach you how to smile, how to sleep, how to efficiently control your finger gestures and eyes movements, and how to get a girlfriend, or how to stop your husband from divorcing you.
These all-round courses cover every matter and problem in life, to help you achieve or solve if you can learn completely by following the standardized procedure. One’s specialty, personality, attraction, relationship, or even interest can be educated and installed according to the best model or example.
People fully depend on this system, and gradually lose their autonomy to discover and decide their ways of living without any external influence. They learn from these lessons unconditionally and take the given viewpoints as granted. They never question before accepting, and never think about whether they agree with these approaches or not. They never ask if there is other alternative, and never think of creating another option by themselves, beyond this structure. One’s personal development is constrained by these assumptions taught in class, by the instruction of how to become a perfect human being, and the scenario of what a perfect life should be.
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Constraints of Now
Constraints of self-images This performance attempted to visualize the blurring of self-images, when the body movements were constrained by the instructions. It included three topics, “how to grab”, “how to look”, and “how to walk”. Every single move followed the opinions from the different viewers, and had a clear photo-shoot. The final results were showed by overlapping six to eight pictures together. They presented the blurring outline of myself, when my gestures, behaviors, and facial expressions were fully learned and adapted to their guides. In this series, the clearest version was, when I initiatively decided the ways to move by my own and stayed in the same posture. Once I stopped pursuing the perspectives and values that do not belong to me, I regained the control of myself, and therefore the photographs sketched the contours of my body with more details.
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Constraints of Now
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/ Grabbing, seeing, walking under others’ constraints / Grabbing with my own controls 20131001
Constraints of Now
Constraints of words “When the life performance is simply determined and evaluated by few printed characters on black and white papers, I would rather become unable to see them.� One of my friends said this to me, when she got a depression because of the feedback reports from her school. This experiment tried to force readers to judge a story independently without any external influences. The rhetoric words in articles are the hidden messages embedded by writers, which constrain readers to the predetermined viewpoints. By taking off all the adjectives, adverbs, comparative degrees, and superlative degrees in newspapers, it only leaves the empty spaces for readers to perceive one issue by the own imaginations, discussions, and determinations. The disabilities of seeing create the abilities to be liberated from the external judgments. These empty blocks also visualized the huge amount of constraints that influences our perspectives in daily reading.
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Constraints of Now
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/ Blank Newspaper 20131013
Constraints of Now
C o n strai n ts as a Hero
“ P e o p le cu lti vate th e mse lves in all kinds o f w ay s in an e f f o r t to b eco me suc ce ssf ul h uman bein gs w it h in t h e n o r m s o f the soc ie tie s th e y live in .“ N e x t N atu re
“ T he co ntem p orar y soc ial pressure on peo ple t o des ign an d p ro d uce themselve s is dif f icult to o v er es t imat e.” N e x t N atu re
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Constraints of Now
How can we fundamentally construct identities, when we are surrounded by designs that try to push us toward someone we are not capable of being? Our identity is reflected through the physical world, which is designed and defined by the society*. Design objects project our self-images, by telling us what we are capable of doing and being. Designs nowadays tend to be created with the purpose of exploring and presenting an ideal vision, for human being is able to become a superhuman. From robotic vacuum to IPhone, these smart designs allow us to do multi-tasking works simultaneously. From performance pills to genetic babies, these human cultivation tools allow us to adjust ourselves incessantly. These increasing opportunities not only allow us to prefect ourselves, but also limit us to a fixed notion of what perfection is. It causes both implicit and explicit social pressures to constrain people, and forces them to strive for successful human beings with the norms in their society7.
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/ Evolution 20130828
Constraints of Now
The influence of this trend on individual’s self-awareness can be further discussed by two aspects. Nowadays, human can act like products, and objects can exhibit human behaviors. The boundary between humans and products is gradually blurring, according to Next Nature published by Koert van Mensvoort and Hendrik-Jan Grievink8. On the one hand, human can act like products, we start to perceive human body as a product that can be shaped, manufactured and produced in a market. One’s appearance, body, memory, experience, or personality can be cultivated and designed in an effort to fit into societal expectations. As a result of social pressures, each person’s humanity and values are standardized and constrained as if they are generated from the mass production line. On the other hand, when products become more advanced and smarter, they tend to overgrow and design us reversely. Products replace our daily tasks, and facilitate our life. Humans have to evolve and generate new behaviors and social patterns to accommodate to these designs, such as the new finger gestures for smartphones, and new blinking behaviors for Google glasses. Modern design defines and targets almost every human being’s detail, from head to toe, for a new function or behavior towards a more efficient life.
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Constraints of Now
“ We sho uld p reve n t people f rom h avi n g t o liv e in a w orld where th e y are c on stan tly c on f u s ed abo ut w h at i t mea ns to b e h uman . We sh ould pre v en t peo ple f r o m be co m i ng u na ble to re cogn ize eac h o t h er as h uman .“ N e x t N atu re
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Constraints of Now
Constraints of tools Every parts of human body have been overdesigned with greater details, and constrained so that they become able to handle multiple tasks. To me it seems like we are being separated by designs into countless fragments, and each part is being defined with greater usages. This experiment attempted to visualize this body separation from designs, by showing the movements while using daily tools. It is tested by the comparison between using a supernormal design and a modern tool, a broom and a vacuum cleaner, for the same purpose, cleaning the floor. Why did I use supernormal as the contrast? According to Naoto Fukasawa9, supernormal is the daily tool that has been refined naturally over the year. Its shape and form follow the long result of revolutions, which blend in our lives comfortably, and mostly fit to our natural behaviors. On the one hand, while using the broom, the moving patterns were more repeated and integrated. The different parts of the body showed with only one trace, which means that most of the body and limbs connected together during the interaction. On the other hand, with the vacuum cleaner, the patterns were more scattered, monotonous, and flattered. Form shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, to feet, every part displayed an unrelated moving trace. One body was clearly divided into eight disconnected parts.
“ T he a m o u nt o f de f in in g tools h as bec o me o v er w h elmi n g, yet m a n’s min d isn ’t wear y of it, but t h e bo dy is al r ea d y” Lin a - M ari e Ko ppen
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Constraints of Now
A few months ago, I had a talk with a social anxiety disorder patient10. He mentioned that his anxiety is the result of this circumstance. Nowadays, the upcoming new products keep promoting themselves as the most ideal and productive way of living. The perfect life scenario is embedded in the design. The patient feels constrained, because the designed usages of the products limit his way of using the daily tools to the so-called ideal living patterns. He feels stressful because he fears that he cannot constantly adapt himself to accommodate these products and keep up with the trend. According to the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy, multifunction of design also implies and pushes us to do multitasking. Human brain cannot properly adapt to the multitasking that current and future life demands11.
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/ Left : Broom, Right : Vacuum Cleaner, 20131015
Constraints of Now
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C o n straint s in t he N ear Fut ure
Human 2.0 Tools 2.0
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This chapter uses design fiction as the technique to create a series of dramatic stories and daily tools. It attempts to envision the future that is under the societal constraints, and to arise the reflections on the current society. According to Julian Bleecker12, design fiction is an approach that incites the imagination-filling conversations about the alternative future13. It often reveals the current attitudes, prejudices and behaviors through telling stories. Its qualities of irony and dramas also test the future systems, to see what the impact might be or how people might respond to new scenarios and tools.
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Constraints in the Near Future
H U MAN 2 .0
When I first read the books, Pig05049 from Christien Meindertsma14 and Corpus Commodus from Alissa van Asseldonk15, I was astonished at the similarity between the ways we currently manipulate ourselves and the livestock. Human 2.0 is a story telling that imagines the future, where we are under the constraints of the boundless enhancements, and unconditionally following their definitions to construct identities. It attempted to raise the awareness of assimilations, with an exaggerative metaphor that expresses the next generation as a human pig.
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Constraints in the Near Future
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PIG
MAN
When the first pig walked into the fences, human beings were constantly striving for the improvements to create the best breeding conditions. We built up a blueprint for future, and a framework for pigpen. Pigs are constrained by being raised and domesticated in the best habitat. In this cage, there is a singular standard to examine and stamp for the qualities of life. The natural habits have been stripped off, and redressed with the best patterns we designed. We fatten, manufacture pigs from top to toe, and process them for the greater usages and benefits.
When the first ape-man picked up torches, human beings were constantly striving for the improvements to create the best surviving conditions. We built up a blueprint for future, and a framework for society. Humans are constrained by being educated and developed in the best scenario. In this cage, there is a singular standard to determine and certify the values of life. The natural habits have been stripped off, and redressed with best patterns we designed. We perfect, enhance humans from top to toe, and modify them to the greater behaviors and living styles.
Constraints in the Near Future
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/ Human Pig, 20131028
Constraints in the Near Future
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/ Notion of being human changed, 20140116
Constraints in the Near Future
“ The dif f e re n ce s be tw ee n air do ll an d hu m an bein g, on e is bur n ab le an d t h e o ther is un bur n able .“ Ai r Do ll, 2009
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Constraints in the Near Future
TO O LS 2 .0
Tool 2.0 is the experiment, which envisions the future of daily tools that are produced under the societal constraints. It takes shaving as an example to develop a series of daily objects, which assist users to fit into the general expectations. As the symbol of civilization, politeness, cleanness, and beauty, shaving hair is one of the new behaviors that is generated in modern life. Tools like razors or hair removal machines are further designed for pursuing the ideal self, based on the existing value system. It seems like that removing our natural protections, hairs, and wearing other artificial clothes on body are the current way to establish a positive personal image. Then, what are the future designs, and how do they help individuals to modify themselves in order to achieve this collective standard?
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Constraints in the Near Future
Hair condom Public hair protects the body against friction, which is being caused between two bodies during sexual activities. If human beings take off all their public hair, they lose this natural protection. Therefore, the hair condom prevents friction from occurring.
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/ Hair Condom, 20131026
Constraints in the Near Future
Clean-shaved gar ment The garment is designed with the image of human’s second skin. It includes the zippers on the paths of shaving, and emphasizes the distributions of body hair. While closing the zippers, it assists the wearer to double check if it’s clean enough.
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Constraints in the Near Future
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/ Clean-shaved Garment, 20131201
Constraints in the Near Future
Hair-fabric tools A series of tools renew hair as raw materials, and create wearable pieces after shaving. It assists users to remove the so-called uncivil hairs and repositions them into civil clothes. These tools include three steps to recreate the removed hairs into hair-clothes: collecting, dyeing, and spreading.
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Constraints in the Near Future
The first step is totally shaving and cleaning your body from these hairs, and collecting them into the tube. The second step is mixing them together with acrylic paints and hydrogen peroxides, and dyeing them to the color that is different from the hairs you want to take off. The final step is mixing it with Bison transparent glues, purring them into the tool, waiting for five minutes, and rolling the new hair-fabrics on your hair-cleaned body directly.
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/ Hair-fabric Tools, 20131215
Constraints in the Near Future
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An o th e r Const raint
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Human2.1
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Constraints and silence As personal space
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Constraints and slow As extension of awareness
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Constraints as sensory and creativity boosts
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Constraints as introspection
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H U MAN 2 .1
Run with cages, out of frames. If the only choice is to drift together with this world, what will happen if we sail in the opposite direction? Can we act against the world with what society is against with? Can we raise protest by acting strange? Why are we afraid of being different, the fear of being strange? For the things that don’t fit into the dominant mainstream, can we transfer these so-called negative elements through designs and support it? To look at existing stereotype in a different way, we question ourselves. Is he strange? No, maybe I am the strange one. Am I a freak? No, maybe you are the freak. Does he not fit into the standard? No, maybe everyone has a different standard.
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Another constraint
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/ Run with cages, Out of frames, 20140225
Another constraint
O S
Ego is an illusion of imaginary and ideal self. We reflect ourIlluselves sion from is no our surlonger round-
Does our society still capable to reflect our ego? Does ego still exist?
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“Ego is an illusion when six to eighteen month old baby seeing himself / herself from the mirror, and this image of ego is based on imagination, which is an ideal and imaginary self.” - Mirror Stage / Jacques Lacan
HOW DO WE REFLECT OURSELVES?
/ Mess process up?, 20140310 / what’s the world expecting us to be?
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E /
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Then? Then? Then? Then? Then? Then? Then? Then? Then?
might have this kind of design in the future for our singlar standard and value / what’s the next, if we still reflect ourselvessystem. from this - Siegfried Kracauer
behaviors to every detail of our bodies, and expecting us become a super-functional man?
OBJECT
kind of reailty?
BUT, / yes, we WHAT ‘S THE REALITY NOW?
WORD
Identity crisis, Identity Confliction Research with metal disorder doctor, Survey in public Anxiety function toward pressure of society
Blurring the line between people and products
HUMAN PIG
- Jean Baudrillard
possiing, this M ble, society. Because / I am always wondering, reality Are Are we chasing the thing that belonging to ourselves? we keeping Why do we keep proving our ego, our value, our identity, our unique point? is no separate our body until the every longer tiny part? possi/ Are we trying to use the same pattern to improve HUMAN 2.0 human as product, addressble. ing new functions and new / we manipulate human not only as the same way as machine, but also the approach we treat our livestock. Are we human anymore, if we are toward this direction ?
ANTHROPOMO RPHOBIA
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Another constraint
Co n s t r a i n t s an d si len c e a s p er s on a l s pac e
According to Siegfried Kracauer, “boredom is the necessity for one to find oneself�16. However, nowadays we are immersed in media cultures and the explosions of information. These outside noises eliminate the silent spaces, and the opportunities to feel bored. In current society, it seems like people are embracing the noise sickness, which is questioned by George Michelsen Foy17. People fear silence, and take it as a metaphor of malfunction. Their growing and learning are depends on the system that tries to destroy it. This scarcity of silence removes the personal spaces, and deprives the possibilities for us to develop ourselves without any external influences. This experiment attempted to disable users’ oral communications, and constrain them to stay in silence. The series of assistive tools restricted users to express their feelings by blowing instead of speaking. The expansion effect from blowing balloons not only transferred the shapes of silence, but also further enclosed users. It transiently created a solitary space for users to isolate themselves from the outside voices.
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Another constraint
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/ I don’t talk doesn’t mean I don’t have opinion, 20140220
Another constraint
Co n s t r a i n t s an d slo w a s e x t e n s i on o f awaren ess
This experiment tried to constrain users to stay in a slow situation, by using shoes with different obstacles for walking. According to SlowLab18, when “fast� becomes the default pace of life, slowness is an indispensable catalyst of individual, socio-cultural and environmental well-being*.It balances the social demands on our bodies in this fast-paced world, and provides extra time to expand the state of awareness. This series of shoes disables users, and enables them to be slow by two approaches. The first pair of shoes is designed with a height and has tied strings in between, and therefore it limits the walking speed. If users are catering to the fast-paced life style in current society, they have to react with strange movements for the body to balance.
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The second pair is the impracticable shoes. Users have to bend the back of their body and pull the strings while walking. It disables their hands while using feet, and vice versa. It constrains users to act with more attention on the ordinary behavior, walking, and fully concentrate without any outside distractions. First of all, this experiment attempts to extend the moments for contemplation, by constraining users with slowness. Second, it enriches the experiences that are often missed and forgotten in daily life, by constraining users with abnormal interactions. Third, it encourages participation and exploration, by constraining users to complete and define the objects through their own approaches.
Another constraint
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/ I am not fast doesn’t mean I am lazy, 20140225/20140315
Another constraint
Co n s t r a i n t s a s s en s o r y a n d c reati v i ty b o os t s
According to The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, human’s creativity is benefited from constraints19. When people encounter the unexpected obstacles on their familiar environments, it broadens their perceptions, promotes them to step back, and then integrate the seemingly unrelated pieces of information. When these hindrances are interfering in what people want to accomplish, the processes of cognitions (thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering) are in the wider pictures. As what Jonah Lehrer said, “we break out of the box by stepping into shackles.”20 Constraints open our mental categories in two aspects. First, it expands the perceptual scope, which I called as the sensory boost in this chapter. It increases what the subjects were able to notice. Second, it expands the conceptual scope, the creativity boost, which helps people to consider the greater possibilities. This experiment tested these two aspects of constraints, by an object and a performance. It attempted to cause deeper self-awareness, by forcing participators to realize (sensory boost) and to explore (creativity boost) what are they capable to do individually without others’ definitions.
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Another constraint
This megaphone constrained participators not only by forcing them to stay in silence, but also by forcing them to communicate with the “touch feeling of speaking.” The speaker can only talk by blowing air into the tubes. The listener had to interpret the meaning by the feeling of touch. The speaker was forced to explore the various approaches, in order to create different tempos and intensities to express him or herself by blowing air. It increased the self-realizations. In addition, for the listener, it also strengthened the sensory. It enabled them to discover detailed feelings that are often ignored, while trying to understand the meaning of these “codes”.
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/ Touch megaphone, 20140315
Another constraint
This performance tested on how to evoke unexpected movements through physical constraints. Through the restrictions from the grids and different rules for participators, it pushed bodies beyond their limits, and further aroused abnormal postures and moving. 1. Each participator can only move once a time in each turn. The bodies, hands, and feet have to fit into the grids. 2. Each participator can only move once a time in each turn. One participator has to block another by using the body. 3. Each participator can only move once a time in each turn. One participator has to block another by using the body. The bodies, hands, and feet have to fit into the grids.
1
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Another constraint
2
3
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/ Body constraints, tested with Gabriel , 20140318
Another constraint
Co n s t r a i n t s a s in t r os p ec t i o n
From the project of Fabrics Restriction21, it described designing constraints on the body as an approach to underpin modern man’s oppressive feelings and emotional restrictions. The interactions between the body and the constraints generate intimate experiences and emotional responses. They reflect on the individual’s discomforts from the society’s expectations, for both viewers and wearer. This experiment attempted to constrain user’s hands from moving in a wide range, and to limit them out of the multitasking activities. On one hand, these limitations promoted users to initiatively create their own behaviors under the limitations. On the other hand, it showed the disabled images to others, and protested against becoming the ideal man in their eyes.
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Another constraint
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/ Clumsy bands , 20140318
Another constraint
C o n strai n ts as Li berati o n Fo rc es
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Proposal
What I propose in the end is a series of tools that reposition societal constraints as liberation force. These tools reversely constrain users’ behaviors with strong actions, and force them to deviate from the existing value system. By doing this, it attempts to assist individuals to construct their identities beyond societal expectations. These assistive tools require our participation as we integrate them with our body. They function as extension of the body, as a kind of prosthesis, but they work against users in performing their daily tasks and routines. The assistive tools disabled users in order to help them alter the existing defined patterns. Once individuals are disabled, it triggers them to act intuitively beyond usual practice. As they experience obstacles, people are forced to stop following the predetermined standards. They have no choice but to start re-explore and redefine the patterns by themselves. While using these tools, users will have to try again and again as they learn to work with the tools. As the users explore unfamiliarity on the use tools, they are also guided to reexamine and reconstruct their ordinary behaviors in daily life. In other words, users experience constrains while using the tools, forced to act on their own behalf, and eventually are freed from the predetermined practice and existing constraints. Furthermore, the constraints led to the abnormal behaviors, perceptions, and experiences, which challenges and stimulates the so-called normality. This strangeness attempts to evoke the emotional response and introspections for both users and viewers, and to reflect individual’s discomforts from societal constraints. By interacting with the absurd activities, these restrictions further stimulate a protest action against ideal expectations and standards of our society.
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Proposal
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Proposal
Clumsy broom It is the three-section broom. It requires more body involvements to operate this tool, such as using by both hands and feet.
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Proposal
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Proposal
Clumsy Ar ms It physically constrains arms with the elastic strings and wooden sticks. The length of strings ties two arms together. It challenges the ordinary behaviors in daily life when people are hardly to straighten elbows or unable to move their arms in the wide range. User is forced to explore the new patterns in order to handle daily routines.
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Proposal
Clumsy Legs This walking stick assists users to discover the unusual movements by constraining legs with elastic bands and wood sticks. While using this tool, people have to make more tries in order to find out the most comfortable and suitable moving patterns for themselves. This repetition of trying becomes a learning process, which is based on own explorations and is suited to individual most.
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Proposal
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Proposal
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Proposal
Clumsy Joints This tool connects and ties several parts of body together. When user moves one part of body, it triggers the other parts at the same time. For example, in my experiment, I connected right elbow, left legs, and left armpit together. When I played pad on my bed, I had to raise my left leg or my hand cannot touch the screen. This disability further led me to discover and reset the different ways of using these defined products. 69
Proposal
Experiememt and inter view ‘’Being constrained showed me that I always take my body movements for granted too easily. I tried to tie my shoelaces with my hands constrained. To do this I just tried to put my body in all kinds of different positions. It felt really strange and abnormal at first, but I found my way and was still able to do it.“ Martijn Steur.
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Proposal
After the experiment with one of tools, I discovered that my designer’s intensions were also being challenged in this project. At first, I designed this walking stick with two handles for users to “hold� body balance while doing the strange movements. However, Martijn explored his ways without using these handles. He crosses his legs as another ways to walk. This process (being constrained) somehow did facilitate Martijn to redefine his own ways of interacting with these designed tools. But I still questioned that am I also designing the guidelines for individual to learn toward my perfections or my visions? This is the most important thing that I want to avoid in this project.
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Proposal
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It’s a self-help center, which provides The Other Tutorial as a survival tool in current societies and helps individuals to redefine the guidelines under the collective standards, in order to‌ to deviate from current normalcy, to escape from current normalcy, to have excuses from current normalcy, to behave outside of current normalcy, to be disabled in current normalcy, to raise protests against current normalcy, to reflect/trigger on current normalcy, and to recreate your normalcy.
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Co n c lu s io n
T he Ot h e r Tu t o ri al Deviation from the collective standard As the reconstruction of our ego
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Conclusion
How can design constraints function as the liberation forces, for individuals to reconstruct their identities in this over-defined society and design trend? Our identities reflect from the physical world, through the interaction when we encounter with objects and systems that are defined and designed by our society. The societal expectations and the successful examples are embedded in these mediums, which further influence or constrain our every single behavior. The other tutorial attempts to alter all the controlled patterns in current structure, by planting the constraints in our daily routines. These constraints function as the electrical resistance to interrupt the one-way flow of our value system. It envisions the courses in the future to disable us from the collective standards. The slight deviations from the norms provide us with the possibility to sail closer to ourselves. The disabilities reversely enable us to extend the state of self-awareness. They challenge the status and normalcy, isolate the external voices, expand personal spaces, slow the time flows, evoke the neglected experiences, and so on. These obstacles are both the reflections and the boosts to question and break the boundary that is already established. This breaking point is the transition point, for us to re-experience and reposition the relation between the self and our surroundings.
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My designs and researches both originated from my personal background, but they aim toward the endless pursu-
ing of perfections and enhancements in the general design field. It is a belief in constraints as the catalyst for the personal identity. Constraint is more like a stimulant to activate the third quality in our black-and-white mind. It does not define a fixed solution but more a flexible approach to penetrate the ways we aware, feel, explore, and experience. The quality of absurdity stimulates more emotional responses from both users and viewers with these ironic tools and dramatic behaviors. The exaggerated effects might create unrealistic feelings, but this contrast also reflects the insanity of the world and human being that we are improving toward. I see this project as a trigger point to the current design focus. Do we still need and want further enhancements and adaptations? What is the experience we have to acquire in the future? What is the next evolution for human being? For me, this project is more a statement that remarks on how constraints and downgrading ourselves can change our view of design and revaluate the notion of self. These reexaminations are expected to start from simple behaviors in our daily routines and then to spark a chain of reactions on a bigger scale. Reconstructing our frame of selves after we deconstruct the current one.
Conclusion
My Apperance Class Please tell me, what are beauty, cleanness, civilization, and politeness?
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Conclusion
My Expression Class Please tell me, what is social ability?
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Conclusion
My Movement Class Please tell me, what are multifunction, efficiency, and productivity?
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Conclusion
“We are marc h in g backw ards in to th e f ut ur e” Marshal l Mucl an
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Conclusion
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/ Self-help, Help Self, 20140601
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Re f e r en c e s
1. Jacaques Lacan, Mirror Stage, 2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ego, Merrian Webster dictionary 3. Hu-Hua Temple, Amsterdam 4
Erik Erikson, Psychoso Childhood and Society, 1950
5
Sigmund Freud, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego
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Kendra Cherry, Stages of Psychosocial Development Psychosocial Development in Pre-
school, Middle Childhood, and Adolescence 6 Mark Bray, The shadow education system: private tutoring and its implications for planners, 2007 7,8,11 Koert van Mensvoort, Henkdrik-Jan Grievink, Next Nature 9
Super Normal, Sensations of the ordinary, Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison, 2007
10 Social Anxiety Disorder Forum 12,13 Julian Bleecker, Design Fiction: A short essay on design, science, fact, and fiction, 2009 14 Christien Meindertsma, Pig05049, 2009 15 Alissa van Asseldonk, Corpus Commodus,2012 16 Siegfried Kracauer, Boredom, 1924 17 George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolutes Silence, 2010 18 SlowLab, New York, 2003 19 Jonah Lehrer, Need to create? Get a constraint, 2011 20 Janina Marguc, Stepping back to see the big picture: when obstacles elicit global processing, ,2011 21 Rachel Ann Phillips, Fabrics Restriction, 2012 IFE Institurte,The Institute for Functional Escapists Lawrence Lek, Prosthetic Aesthetics Hirokazu Koreeda, Air doll, 2009 Deyan Sudjic, The language of Things, 2008 White, Kenya Hara, 2010/2012 Lucienne Peiry, Sarah Lombardi, Collection de l’Art brut, Lausanne,2012 Lina-Marie Koppen, Learn to Unleran, 2012 Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music Follow Me, Wang Qing-Song, 2003 Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall
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References
A c k n ow le d g em en ts
HEAD OF SOCIAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT Jan Boelen
MENTORS Aldo Bakker Dick Van Hoff Rianne Makkink Sanne Jansen
THESIS MENTOR Liesbeth Huybrechts
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Acknowledgements
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