Tedious Times

2021, Quinda Verheul

In collaboration with ‘Sterker door jongeren’, Josephine Baan, Hanna Gonsalves, Nardjissa Ikhlef, Mathijs Kramer, Jonah van Lotringen, Jelrik Westra.

'Sterker door Strijd’(stronger through struggle) is the motto of Rotterdam. The municipality asked young people in Rotterdam to come up with ideas to meet each other 'again' after the lockdown.

A group of six youngsters came up with the idea for a time document to which young people from all districts of the city contribute. Visual artist Quinda Verheul has been asked to shape this. She believes that facing reality and reflecting on yourself open up new opportunities to learn and grow. She sees her artwork as a place where you can transform. The creators and the artist decided to use tiles as their tool. Rotterdam youngsters then recorded their thoughts and experiences during workshops in the summer of 2021. The tiles form an impressive installation that helps the viewer process all things that happened during the crisis. The installation documents the experiences of young people during a bizarre period in the city's history. In August and September 2021 young people gathered in various places in the city, such as at Douwers in Rotterdam, the Wijkpaleis in West, at Zadkine and at Stichting de Nieuwe Kans, to share their thoughts and experiences on the tiles. The tiles form an impressive installation that helps the viewer process the crisis.

SCIENCE

Convergence
The Covid crisis has shown the importance of collaboration between scientific disciplines, such as virology, immunology, epidemiology, medicine, technical and social sciences. In preparing for outbreaks of new viral diseases, we can learn from dealing with disasters, such as floods. Hydraulic engineers, in turn, learn from virologists how climate change may enable disease spreaders, such as mosquitoes, to settle in wet areas. The social sciences and economics also to better manage a crisis.

This is taking shape in the Convergence, the strategic alliance between Erasmus MC, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Delft University of Technology. The municipalities of Rotterdam and Delft align with this as a versatile research area and apply the new knowledge in policy. Students and researchers from the three institutions are increasingly meeting each other.