CORONACRISISKRUK

CoronaCrisisKruk

“Creating room for true contact, by taking away the worry about the new social distancing guidelines”

When the coronavirus hit the Netherlands in March this year, the Dutch government responded by setting new guidelines for its people: Strictly refrain from touching someone else, and remain distant from each other.

Suddenly we all had to learn new and unknown social behavior, which made us feel uncomfortable and uncertain. Some people tended to over-react and moved further apart than necessary. Others stopped breathing and looked away when passing.

I myself included.

The design of the CoronaCrisisKruk is a response to this behavior. It invites people to not move too far apart, but move the other direction: towards eachother, up to the 1,5m-limit.

It welcomes people to sit down and start conversation. It helps to promptly forget about the guidelines, which creates room for true contact and honest attention for one another. The kind of contact people long for so much these times.

Six CoronaCrisisKruks are made and placed in the Noorderpark in Amsterdam, where they are still actively used by park visitors.

Amsterdam Museum is now exposing a version in their courtyard, and later it will be added to their collection and archives. And recently it is shortlisted for the worldwide design platform Dezeen, which I am super proud of!

Hold on and please stay safe!

In cooperation with: Stichting Noorderpark and Fonds voor Noord.

Photography: Cees Hin (professional photo’s) and the sweet neighbours of the Noorderpark.