A touch of warmth, a meter apart

This is a year we restraint physical intimacy.
To maintain social distancing is an act of love rather than apathy.
Christmas is around the corner, at a safe distance of one meter, we stay together.
Our hearts are still warm under such winterly cold.
Behind the face mask we wear and through the air, blessings still flow.
There is no distance between the love we hold.

Minimalistic X’mas Trees – Social Distancing or Connecting? Designed by LittleUrbanMountain

Social distancing becomes our new normal life. We are like on a checkerboard that we make our move carefully by distancing from each other. Normally closeness and human contact is the expression of love and care, but the semiotics of interpersonal contact is now changed: in the face of current situation, distance indeed signifies care for others and protection, yet proximity signifies exposure to danger. Fascinated by this new form of communication, the installation has transformed this idea into a colourful social distancing “bubble” grid pattern. In the time of Christmas when we should express care to our beloved ones, shall we celebrate this festive moment in a distance?

The X’mas trees are scattered on a social distancing grid and rotating, as if they are also hinting us to keep a distance from them. In fact, the geometry of the trees borrows the same language of the floor pattern and transforming a 2D plane into 3D cone in space. The lighting at its edge and the reflective surface on the floor have further enrich this into 4D experience. While visitors walking into this Social Distancing X’mas Jungle, won’t we be connected by seeing this lighting spectacular?