Hyperculture
“Two motifs merge into one lenticular poster. The image changes depending on where you stand — there is no fixed final image, only perspectives. Cultural belonging exists in relation to context, position, and viewpoint. 400 × 600mm”
Hyperculture is the diploma project of Dabin Kim made at ABK Stuttgart. The project captures the blurring of cultural boundaries, allowing different cultures to coexist in a globalized world in a “both–and” rather than “either–or” way.
Cultural practices in East and West are explored through everyday creations, shared media, and consumption. This shows how trends move between cultures, overlap, and are interpreted differently. The practices are presented through quotes, articles, digital images, and original visuals.
Dabin Kim describes the project as follows:
The publication is read from both sides: one presents an Eastern perspective, the other a Western one. Each examines how the other culture’s practices are adopted, influenced, and often misunderstood in different contexts.
Chapter 1 focuses on Language, Chapter 2 on Food, and Chapter 3 on Industry—each from both perspectives. Chapter 4 concludes with interviews that bring both views together.
The conversations reveal that cultural identity is increasingly hybrid and fluid, shaped through consumption and digital media. While visual cultural boundaries blur, deeper social differences and experiences of belonging persist.
Looking across language, food, and industry, the West often translates cultural elements into simplified, marketable forms, while the East actively transforms and hybridizes global influences.
Hyperculture emerges as both a driver of cultural reduction and a source of creative reconfiguration – simultaneously part of the problem and part of the solution.
Designed with Solæ and OT Neue Montreal Squeezed. 232 pages, 210×297 mm
