Desire-Land | MArch GAD | 2011
Awarded Distinction in Design
Desire-Land, Simulation of Hyper-Reality Reflection
The Project is originated to examine the world in the reflected image as a virtual output built on human’s desire according to the Mirror Stage theory of Lacan (1953). The mirror image serves as a bridge between the mind and the reality world. Thus, the scene in the mirror could be seen as a representation of human’s psychological aspect.
In the notion to discuss the representation of human desire, the research of different culture throughout the history and social phenomena nowadays are merged into the design process. The seven deadly sins, the eighteen levels of hell and the Inferno (hell) in Divine Comedy (14th-century) by Dante Alighieri are pointing out that the moral standard and illustrated the punishment as a cruel afterlife world.
As the technology development and industrialization, the mass production and change of social status subvert the original value of objects where people project their desire onto the consuming and consumption. The advertisement provides an illusion of pleasant life composed by the product promoted, hence the system of objects could be seen as a simulated image, ‘The Hyper-Reality’, in the theory of Jean Baudrilliard (‘The System of Objects’, 1968). In this sense, the project is to discuss the consumerism in the shopping mall where contains many departments of products.
The main idea is to use common objects in the shopping mall and recreate scenes in 3D models based on the sense and atmosphere of departments. However, with reflected material and specific view point, the rendering image could form a hell-alike picture with uncanny reflection. The pieces and distorted shades in the reflection could be zoomed in to examine the composition of objects and reveal the phenomena of consumerism in modern times.
Tutor: Andrew Porter & Luke Pearson