Embassy of Intimacy - Dutch Design Week 2017

When do we ever blush or shout in public? When do we give attention, enjoy or cry for all to see? Can we still be intimate with ourselves and with others while the world is watching? And if so: what does this intimacy look like? Is this how we want it or do we long for something else; for different forms of expression, less (unwritten) rules, more room to show others who we are and how we feel? That is what the Embassy of Intimacy, part of this years first World Design Event and curated by Angelique Spaninks of MU and designer Tom Loois, is all about. In this Embassy three intimate spheres of influence converge: that of bodies, things and spaces. Intimacy is highly elusive. Situated as it is somewhere along the tension between the head and the heart, between reason and emotion, hardware and software, public and private. It is human but not necessarily individualistic; it is about connecting and gauging the distance. This is where both curators see opportunities. Combining an analytical approach with creative and practical qualities, they put expressions of intimacy centre stage by making them more explicit, shared and possibly even rewriteable. Besides that they try to crystallise the most intimate immateriality into objects, appliances and even services. A key strategy they apply is performance, because it is a means to make manners, habits and emotions like shame or passion explicitly clear. Photos: Hanneke Wetzer

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