In this phase of our lives in which everything has been turned upside down, we’ve asked our second and third-year students to share their thoughts on what this pandemic and the ‘new intimacy’ means to them. 

Four selected design students have jointly created an installation in which you – the viewer – feel this discomfort and lack of closeness. It disarms us while confronting us with our human vulnerabilities. What if there are no more certainties, touch is taboo, and there is no more physical exhibition space? Surprise, humour, fear, and wonderment alternate in this space that has lost all sign of normality.

A Tabernacle – a tent for a congregation – brings together the fragile and precious elements of life that have been taken away from us. This is an installation that revolves around sensory experiences, which makes us aware of our longing for the naturalness of contact. A temple where the new intimacy is lovingly felt and the memory of the old is preserved as treasures of lost times.

It’s a multidisciplinary installation you have to experience. As this year’s Dutch Design Week (DDW) is being held virtually, this Tabernacle seeks to establish a place to show, feel, hear, and smell all the new treasures of intimacy... 

Floor Klaassen, Design-Body 3

Losing control, feeling uncomfortable, being frustrated. Research shows that one out of three people in the Netherlands has had mental health problems since the start of the pandemic. In the ‘Don't touch me corridor’, Floor Klaassen turns her uncomfortable feeling into something to touch – whether you like it or not. The multimedia environment further enhances feelings of anxiety. She uses this space to enter into dialogue about the viewer’s negative or indeed positive feelings toward the new intimacy. How is your mental health? Are you really okay? Have you adapted to the situation?