Graduation project
Cleanse: Ritual for the Social Body
Joel Kim
# “Public bathing is a primitive experience that reminds us that we are all part of the same organism.”
In an increasingly individualistic society, Joel Kim takes worldwide public bathing rituals as a starting point for community-building. Without the status of our clothes and accessories we are all equal, which makes it easier to feel part of a larger social body. ‘Cleanse’ embraces commonalities between the sauna culture from Scandinavia, hammam from Turkey, onsen from Japan and jjimjilbang from Korea. A shower of mist on a rocky floor washes the traces of the day away. A barefoot walk through the sand leaves an honest footprint behind. And a hot stone and huge block of ice make you sweat with others. The objective of this redesigned ritual is to reconnect us to nature and each other.