What do people do when everything is free of charge? How does such a group function, consisting of people who know each other well and not so well? In 2017 we were invited by Academie voor Beeldvorming to do a research project in walk-in house Voor Elkaar in Breda.
Voor Elkaar serves a diverse group of older people without a lot of spending money. But on this Wednesday morning, they don’t need to bring money or do anything. They can leave their hassles behind and just drink a cup of coffee.
We visited the walk-in several times and our curiosity grew. We asked all kind of questions, but this seemed a bit intrusive. Voor Elkaar is a place to chit-chat, to share stories and innocent argle-bargle. It functions like a living room, withdrawn from commercial thinking.
So what to do with these notions? We played with the idea that everything is for free and made this explicit in a menu card. Not only the obvious beverages, but also the social interactions. On the inside we added all kinds of available services: special service at the table, coffee with sugar, gingerbread, but also spicy jokes, clothing repair by Savitree or a sandwich shawarma. All for €0,00! That’s how it works at the walk-in.
The menu shows the social value of a walk-in like Voor Elkaar, but also helps new visitors to relate to the place or start a conversation. What do you want to offer for free?
Read more about our experiences on the website from Academie voor Beeldvorming (Dutch).