Studium Generale is proud to co-host a new one-day experimental installation by Els Spanjers, a TU Delft student of the Master Design for Interaction. Grab a friend (literally) to experience this exploration of platonic physical intimacy.
Touch is one of the most basic human needs, yet we often struggle to express it — especially in platonic relationships.
During the pandemic, Longing for Touch (LFT) rose to 76%. But strangely enough, that number didn’t go down afterwards. Many of us still crave connection — not just emotionally, but physically. Yet somehow, we save physical closeness only for romantic relationships.
On the 11th of June, Master’s student Els Spanjers (Design for Interaction, TU Delft) invites you to challenge this norm.
Step into an intimate audio-guided spatial installation designed for two friends. In a slow and soft sequence, you’ll explore haptics through layers of fabric, breath, and presence — in a quiet bubble in the midst of the bustling TU Delft campus.
Created as part of the course Multi-Sensory Design Studio, the installation asks: how can a spatial installation create an invitation for meaningful, physical intimacy between friends?
No sign-up. Just bring a friend and meet them in a new way. At 12:45, Els will introduce her installation.
Curious to know what this experience will be like? Read Els’ blog, which lets you imaginatively step into the installation experience beforehand. Simply want to know what to expect? Read the installation description below.
Installation Description
Lean In is a spatial installation exploring platonic physical intimacy on campus.
It is meant to be experienced by two people simultaneously, who are in a platonic relationship, and may be intelligently and emotionally intimate, but perhaps not yet physically. They will be talked through the whole experience via an audio guide which they listen to on headphones. This is chosen as it creates a more intimate feeling than listening to the audio over a speaker. The two friends stand on either side of the coloured curtains. They are first invited to put their arms through the first curtain, made from a stiff and padded material, and embrace each other through the fabric. The audio guides asks them what they feel, what they can notice and if they can sense the heartbeat or breathing pattern of the other person. It asks them to close their eyes and sense if they can perhaps feel it better then. Then they are invited to move to the second curtain, which is made from a more soft and flexible fabric. They put their arms in and embrace each other again. The audio guides asks them similar questions. In the last stage they embrace without any screen in between them, again with similar questions.
There are some ambient meditation sounds on the background of the audio track, to enhance the feeling of being in a bubble, and subtlety indicating the end of the experience so people can let go of their hug when they feel ready to themselves instead of telling them to stop. The whole experience takes about 3.5 minutes.
There is a semi-transparent curtain around the whole installation, in order to help people feel like they are in a bubble but without making it impossible for them to sense what is going on around them.
This design plays on the fact that feeling someone’s heartbeat creates the same feeling of personal contact as looking each other in the eye. Next to that, it has been proven a lot that hugging is good for human beings, but the optimal duration to get the benefits from hugging is more than 5 seconds (and some say even 20 seconds), which is way less than the average hug lasts. However, when people follow the audio guide, they are nudged to do so.
The question this design investigates is as follows: To what extent does this spatial installation invite physical intimacy between friends? Does it create enough of a reason or ‘excuse’ for people to physically connect with each other for a few minutes? And to what extent do people experience this as intimate?
