A new chapter in the journey of a first person perspective [1PP] has been to deviate from the perspective of externalising the outputs a designer produces, to living with your own ideas.
Now, what the fuck does that actually mean?
The biggest problem I've been experiencing as a designer who comes from a completely different background, where I had almost no connection to the world of art, was to stop always ideating and creating something for me, and to start being a walking prototype of my own mind.
I would watch design courses and develop small things, I would write poetry and keep it to myself, I would tell others how they should create a portfolio of their work instead of focusing solely on university recognition and their CVs /business students/, but I've completely failed to push those ideas by myself and to actually experience if what I'm saying would be used at least by one person - me.
One of the things that I love about MDEF, is that it doesn't allow you to think, to stop for a second, to contemplate whether this is everybody is talking about makes any sense. It just pushes you to do things, to create machines, to experience uncomfortable chaos, to talk to the neighbourhood, and what's absolutely wonderful is that all of these things happens right in that moment where one, just one, idea comes to you.
For this week I was interested in the intersection between HUMANS and NON-HUMANS. The clash of WESTERN CENTRICITY and EASTERN FUTURE. The interpretation of DIGITAL and PHYSICAL identities. The force of an INDIVIDUAL and a SOCIAL BODY.
My head was spinning with all of these topics, and ideas, and unclear thoughts. Do you know of those moments where you're sitting on your couch, listening to some retro tunes, having a drink with your roommate, and suddenly get into this deep and intertwined discussion about what's the point of the world and ideas as such?
Well, I had a night like this just at the right time.
Paying attention, for once, to the other person and really trying to understand their perspective, history, different points of view - pointed toward a weak signal I wanted to explore from the beginning, called Identity Shopping.
Imagining a future where you can choose any traits you'd like to have, any behaviours, anything at all, and being able to adapt them into your own self started to resonate with what I wanted to represent during this project.
Later in this blog, you'll be able to observe how this idea developed further and completely reshaped a day in my life.
Quite early on during this week, we had a session where we went to the streets and collected all kinds of waste and garbage which could be repurposed and given a new life. My personal contribution has been to go around the area of Poblenou and ask all kinds of shops, restaurants, and factories for any waste they could give us. Going to one of the cafes, we were given a full bag of spent coffee grounds which would typically be put into general waste and sent to landfill where they would emit methane.
With the tools available I decided to explore the concept of body fluidity. To be able to transform and configure your own body, a prototype of underwear was designed to provide you a tactile experience and the feeling of having masculine body parts.
What's even more, the students were grouped according to their shared interests. Our group was called Bio, Tech & Ancestry. All of the projects were centred around achieving a balance across different axes, a balance of identities, a balance between machines and humans, nature and society, etc.
Do you remember the stuff I told you about the ability to have a fluid identity. Well, after some ideation I decided to live a day where I could choose freely any behaviours and traits I'd like to have as a person.
All of us have the \alter persona\ which dictates or acts as the ideal toward how we should or shouldn’t act. The dychotomy of personalities is real.
For a day, I became the \other self\.
The change of identity involved looking at the next themes:
- behavious #1
Selected number of behaviours I consider terrible traits of mine and, therefore, switched them around for a day.
- activities #2
Activities I always thought would be beneficial in my life but never did them.
- feelings #3
Evaluation of how my mind and body respond to the change of identity.
Having mapped out the idea, it was time to start acting on it. I've chosen all of the activities I've always strived to do but my personality and habits never allowed me to commit fully to. With a new perspective on life, living life with the new me, I pushed myself to have an ideal day in this alternate reality by committing to all of the activities you can observe below.
Moreover, another big part lately has been revolving about sustainable and conscious consumption, permaculture, and the influence of food on our lives, and our societies. With this in mind, every time I bought something at a coffee place or a restaurant, I asked them to map out their supply chain to see where the produce was coming and whether it was farmed organically or not.
Throughout this experience, I started recording how much my feelings were changing with every new, uncomfortable situation I put myself in. It gave me a perspective on whether we really have a choice or not. A choice to change ourselves, a choice to rewrite the rules and start with a clean sheet.
Reflecting on the experience I found that changing my behaviours was an extremely difficult task. Our unconsciousness works in mysterious ways, and every time I tried to shut it off, I always lost this battle. A future where I can choose my behaviours is an attractive one, but also cannot, in my case, be targeted with normal day-to-day means. Either advancements in neuroscience or different spiritual practices are needed to be able to experience the life anew.
