Gut Doll is a project conducted during my exchange semester at IDAS (International Design For Advanced Studies) at Seoul, during the Experimental Interaction course, supervised by David Hall
The work was initiatied with the 'computer and meat' theme and tried to focus on cultural differences between the conception of computer and meat and the difference between an occidental way of thinking and a more oriental and specifically korean way on the theme.
The researchs can be found on Jessica’s Experimental Interaction Class Project
What I thought was the biggest difference between a the european-styled society and korean society was the pressure inflicted on korean people, at school, at work, by the hierarchy, family, people.
All the stress and pressuring acumulated has various consequences, such as high suicide rates. So it seemed that what was lacking was a way for stressed korean people to be relieved from that pressure and have fun taking revenge on other people. Thus exorcising the pressure like 'gut dolls' used in korean shamanism.
Gut Doll allows to dress-up, torture and take a picture of a doll anonymously.
The doll is fully customizable and the weapons inflict physical damage to the dolls based on korean items.
So for example if your boss pissed you off yelled at you and you feel very angry about it, you can make a gut doll of him, and hit him with a rubber chicken and write 'Mr. MyBoss, I hate you, your ties are a disgrace'