Design Map · Eindhoven
Radical Care
Graduation project by Simone Vollmary at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘Radical Care’ examines informal care through a performance as two people are connected by a shared latex inflatable. Each performer hand-pumps air into the object, either applying pressure or releasing air through a valve. This process gradually changes the distance between their bodies as they negotiate movement and control. These adjustments may relieve, restrict or support either person. The material stretches, presses and responds like a membrane, so each action affects both bodies. Developed through lived experience and informed by care ethics, disability studies and embodied research, the project explores how care is a mutually responsive yet unequal relationship. Performed continuously for five hours and seventeen minutes, the work reveals the physical and emotional labour of informal care. It approaches care not as a fixed role but as an evolving negotiation shaped by interdependence.