18 October 2017
Do Your Washing in the Boijmans Launderette
In the design exhibition ‘Change the System’, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen provides a platform for fifty designers who want to change the world. They challenge you to join in. One of these designers is Manon van Hoeckel.
She designs meetings. As a social designer she develops tools to get ‘strangers’ talking to one another. Because what happens if we surround ourselves only with what we know and have no idea of other people’s views? The disappearance of conversation in public spaces, in politics and between different groups in our society is a problem that she can tackle as a designer.
The Boijmans Launderette
Have you noticed that people hardly ever talk to one another in the museum? Contact with strangers enriches your world view and even small talk can have a surprisingly positive effect. But because of social media, delivery services and online banking and medical consultations, the waiting rooms that lead to spontaneous contact are disappearing.
Manon van Hoeckel has created space in the Boijmans Launderette for the unexpected conversation. A fully working launderette in the middle of the museum. Have a chat with a stranger, start a conversation about where people do their laundry, or just get on and do yours. And while the machine is running you can follow the Wash Cycle, a set of stimulating questions to discuss in the exhibition with someone else. Your laundry is your free admission to the museum.
Dates for your diary: join in Manon van Hoeckel’s Challenge from 4 December to 23 December. Share on Facebook and Instagram with #ChangeTheSystem.