Kinderdagverblijf Amsterdam

Kinderdagverblijf Amsterdam (Amsterdam Daycare, 2022) by Berend Strik transforms photographs of a children's daycare facility into a meditation on care, childhood, and the spaces that shape early human development.

The daycare — a space dedicated to the collective care of young children — represents one of the most fundamental social institutions of modern life. Strik's textile interventions into images of such spaces add layers of tenderness and physical warmth that mirror the nurturing function of the space itself.

Strik's approach to domestic and care-related spaces reflects his broader interest in how built environments encode human relationships and social structures. The daycare, like the home, the school, and the hospital, is a space where human vulnerability is housed — and Strik's fabric interventions seem to wrap these spaces in additional layers of protection and care.

The work was created during the COVID-19 pandemic period (2022), when collective care spaces like daycares were under particular scrutiny. Strik's documentation and transformation of such a space reflects his ongoing engagement with the institutions that structure contemporary life.

Sources: Galerie Fons Welters