Stop de Kindermoord

In The Netherlands, by 1971 deaths by motor vehicles were 3,300, of which 500 were children. A campaign in favour of pedestrians and bicycles started in different locations. It was called “stop children’s murders”.

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3.Stop de Kindermoord

“The battle goes on…”

‘Stop de Kindermoord’ took measures against car traffic - they occupied accidents blackspots, organising special days where streets were closed to allow children to play safely, they cycled with an organ in front of the house of the prime minister Joop den Uyl, to sing songs asking for safer streets. A characteristic is that the protests involved both the parents and children.

One of the most remarkable protests took place outside Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in the mid-1970s, where thousands of participants all laid down with their bicycles, pretending to be dead.

“From 1950 to 1975, the bicycle was almost entirely excluded from the government’s vision”

Room Concept

The only room with a beginning and an end. Displaying the names of the children killed gives it grounding and the realisation of mortality; no longer just a number, they are real people.

The scale of the name represents the power of the movement. Hear the voices and see what they achieved.

Visitors to the room find their route through the many standpoints in the central area. These standpoints display stories and information about de Kindermoord to introduce the visitors to the subject. In addition, their title screens start with replicas of the different signs carried during the protests in the 1970s.

Moving through these standpoints represents moving through the crowds of demonstrators on the streets. A large wall divides the floor space; a soundtrack plays from the archway in this wall. As visitors head towards the wall, they begin to hear the sounds of protests, government speeches, traffic, etc.

On this protest side, the wall acts as a monument listing the names of the children killed by traffic, leading to the start of the campaign. The last name shown is six-year-old Simone Langenhoff, whose death was the start of Stop de Kindermoord.

As you pass through the arch, the protest is replaced by the bicycle sculptures; these represent the campaign’s success, changing demonstrations into cycle lanes. All 757km of them.

Animated data-vis; facts, figures and statistics are displayed on this side of the wall to validate the success.

Room Experience

Walkthrough: Describing the key points and visual features of the room

1. Visitors start with the maze, digital standpoints which tell the story of de Kindermoord; their title frames show replicas of the original signs used by the demonstrators.

2. Each standpoint tells a different story of de Kindermoord using stories and images from the National Archives in Amsterdam. Visitors work their way through these standpoints as if working their way through a crowd.

3. The central wall stands high, a barrier to break through. The facing side lists the names of the 500 children killed on the roads. The last name being Simone Langenhoff, aged 7, whose death led to the start of the cause.

4. Passing through the archway, you hear the soundtrack of de Kindermoord. The sound of protests, the interviews and discussions, and recollections of those who were there.

5. Through the archway into the positive side of the room, the bicycles are there en-mass representing the success of de Kindermoord. They’re not in regimented rows or columns, so they are seen to be flowing freely through the arch.

6. This side of the wall displays animated graphics of data such as the number of bikes (881,000) and the number of kilometres cycled by Amsterdammers each day (2,000,000km) is displayed on an LED screen.

Above: Standing in the maze. The view from the protest side of the wall shows the names of those killed by traffic.

Above: Standing amongst the bicycle sculpures looking back towards the central wall displaying positive information and statistics about the changes brought about by the campaign.

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©1973–2023 Tony Clarkson
&Something Studio is a design studio based, but no way trapped, in Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury has trains and roads which lead both in and out.