Mathijs Stegink

Tag: covid

  • Betastingsdienst (cancelled due to covid)

    Betastingsdienst (cancelled due to covid)

    We don’t want to dwell on all the cancelled projects of 2021, but this one would have been amazing. Lowlands was preparing the first festival where people could hug freely again. We designed a special hugging zone, mimicking official COVID flowcharts, announcements, and crowd control—but then completely subverting the “do not touch anyone” message that had dominated our lives.

    In our immersive lab, we created a playful environment with hug superspreaders to help people relearn how to hug. This project would have been another experiential art installation emphasizing audience participation, co-creation, and the “as if” quality of a fake lab. We love the approach of a fictional workshop or mock institute, where the line between reality and performance is joyfully blurred.
    It was not meant to be 🙂

  • Illustrations for article SaxNow

    Illustrations for article SaxNow

    I am a little proud of these, covid was good for training my drawingmuscle. This series is inspired by quotes from my students. It was so much fun to work on this during covid! Used in print and online. https://www.saxnow.nl/nieuws/achtergrond/2020/december/reconstructie-het-wonder-van-saxion-en-het-verdriet-dat-het-meebracht

    I was far away from home, living in a new city,I couldn’t go home and the only meetings i had with people I knew was online., but most of the time I was online with the people i was supposed to be in a class with. I am not sure if I liked them..
    All the luggage, bags, backpacks slowly became ghosts, why did we have these things? They were so big in my room, yet they had no function.
    You were over there in a bustling city living a great live with bars and meetings and i was stuck in the Netherlands with my psychotic roommate. I did go out on my bike though, that was good. I wanted to go home so bad.
    Flirting is hard. The camera adds 15 pounds. I wanted to hug people, I organised a tonguekissing event with my festivalfriends.
    I was pretty fast at getting used to working online technically. Emotionally it was something different.
    Students trying to hide their roommates, students in bed (with eachother), students with their whole family there while they are trying to study, students at parties, students walking in nature, students cooking, cats, lots of cats.