Who is Damian?
The past couple of post are part of the project “Damians Dressing Table”, but who is Damian? Damian D. Doggy is the drag persona of designer and researcher Danielle Roberts, the creator of this blog. Damian was born a couple of years ago. He is a dragking and helps Danielle to explore their gender and sexuality. Damian can be any kind of male: sissy, tough, classy or vulnerable. For more information you can check out his Instagram page.
The project
In the Damians Dressing Table project Roberts combines their design research practice with their drag performances. The mail goal of the project is to explore if and how self-transcendent experiences [1] can be evoked during the act of putting on make-up before a performance. The focus is on the two main components of self-transcendence: loss of sense of self and a greater connection with the environment. To this end Roberts is design-researching a dressing table with (interactive) objects using the somaesthetic design method. This project is part of the Soft Spaces project by the Design Museum Den Bosch in collaboration with Drag Up Family. It consists of four parts:
- The table & objects: an interactive installation with (interactive) objects which Damian uses to put on make-up
- A performance: a live lip-sync performance
- An exhibition: visitors can view the installation and watch a video of its use
- Audience participation: visitors can try the table and participate in an exploratory experiment on the effects of using the table
Documentation
This blog will track the somaesthetic design research progress of the project. The first posts about this project were of an exploratory nature. Followed by a post on the table cloth design and the table layout. The next groups of posts will focus on one of the interactive elements.
References
[1] D. Roberts, A. de Rooij, “Exploring Embodied Interaction to Support Self-Transcendence in the Art Installation ‘ Magic Tea ,’” xCoAx, Jun. 2023, doi: 10.34626/xcoax.2023.11th.292.