SOMETHING SOMETHING SOUP SOMETHING was inspired, in more than one way, by the work of Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Our ‘interactive thought experiment’ is supposed to make the ‘players’ confused and curious, to make them sceptical about the descriptive possibilities of our language and the limitations inherent to thinking in analytical categories.
During the development of SOMETHING SOMETHING SOUP SOMETHING, we had to identify the properties and features that different people in a variety of different cultures use to describe soup. By doing so, we tried to remove our personal biases about what soup is (or is not) from the conceptual design of our interactive thought experiment.
Inspired by Eleanor Rosch and Carolyn B. Mervis’s linguistic experiments, we organised focus groups in different countries. The various activities involved in those focus groups were meant to help us more clearly understand what soup was for them. They also ensured that our conceptions of soup, as designers, were as inclusive as possible.