Pascale Leenders/Han Rameckers: ‘To Be Close’ #1

 In the early twentieth century, tuberculosis (TBC) was a dangerous infectious disease many people died of. At that time, there were no medicines or treatments available for the disease, and to prevent it from spreading, patients were isolated. The disease often had a fatal outcome and was hardly treatable. The only possible way to treat patients was by making sure they rested enough, ate well and breathed in lots of clean air.

Since then, a sanatorium house for TBC patients has been built in the garden of the monastery at Wittem. The simple wooden house was rotatable to allow patients to benefit from the sun, light and air as much as possible and to keep the wind off the entrance. This house and its history have inspired us to make the work ‘To Be Close' #1.