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Jan Pieter Kaptein prepared a student project, The Second Self Laboratory, during his time at Design Academy Eindhoven to be revealed at the Dutch Design Week 2013. The concept zeros in on perspective, checking our tendencies to devalue others we are encouraged to dabble in new roles through dramatic play in stereotypical costumes. Clearly the moral scolds anyone judging before walking in the subjects shoes. What might you feel if you were “diseased”? Shameful? Friendless? Self conscious? Might this affect your interactions with others, your response to racism, your drive in life or maybe lack of drive? We might find ourselves surprised by society’s pressures given the “suit” we wear. Included in the experiment are the following scenarios: the Stranger (looks, acts and smells different from us), Mr. Ordinary (deprived from his basic needs it turns out that he’s a killing machine), the Judge (protects us, the good people, from them, the bad people), the Monster (personification of the uncontrolled nature that is surrounding us), the Cursed Man (We are afraid that his misfortune is contagious and therefore we ignore him).
Photographs Lisa Klappe + Conor Trawinski
