Doppelgänger by Didier Faustino

Bad kissers are everywhere. God knows I unfortunately know loads of them. They either try to lick your face like a baset or just stay there with their mouth open and play the dead man. Sean, who has the same slimy problem with disappointing kissers, stumbled upon this amazing new make-out teaching device for couples. It is a witty art project on the one hand, but on the other, I would be more than interested in purchasing one for training purposes. Or I’ll just sent bad kissers the link to this article. If you receive it in your inbox, you better think about it.

Portuguese artist Didier Faustino has created a mask that clamps over the faces of a kissing couple. Called Doppelgänger, the 3D-printed mask holds the wearers’ heads apart at a fixed angle while hole at the centre allow their mouths to meet. The piece is on show at the Lafayette Maison in Paris.

As part of the “Conversations” circuit at Designer’s Days, Didier Faustino is installing “Interzone” in the windows of Lafayette Maison with Doppelgänger, a piece produced for the occasion.

A white mask separates into two. Its conjoined parts fuse together recreating a sort of prosthesis for a mirror kiss.

The double entry mask pivots the heads of those who put it on, defining the minimum limits, an immaterial border becoming real.

Doppelgänger seems to prevent contact and yet it reveals a link, the meeting of the mouths which slot into one another through a perfectly traced, proportioned orifice.

Like a hygienist mask maintained in equilibrium, Doppelgänger appears to be like a prosthesis which controls the kiss.

Photos are courtesy of Didier Faustino and Galerie Michel Rein.