Benches

Benches turns photographed Rotterdam seating into a very short game poem about who public space welcomes and how close strangers are allowed to get. Small figures, location-recorded ambience, and a deliberately modest interaction make each seat feel like a social diagram with its shoes on.

What is Benches?

Each scene places a plain little figure against a real bench or transit setting, then lets the arrangement do the talking. The visual vocabulary is spare, but the contrast between long seats, divided seats, empty space, and nearby bodies gives the piece its bite. Field recordings keep the locations present while the tiny characters make the furniture feel unexpectedly personal. It is less a conventional game than a compact encounter with the quiet rules built into a city.

What you can do there

• Arrange small figures around photographed public benches
• Compare how different seats shape social distance

Why we picked it

Benches finds a playable idea in an object most people walk past without a second glance. Its best trick is scale: a few minutes and a few stick figures are enough to turn ordinary seating into a question about comfort, control, and company.

How to get the most from it

Play with sound on and give each scene a moment before moving ahead. Watch the gaps between the figures as closely as the figures themselves; the empty inches are where much of the argument lives.

Good to know

The browser edition is listed for mouse and touch, and a 37 MB name-your-own-price download is also available. Expect a visit under five minutes. Live keyboard, accessibility, popup, and small-screen behavior was not verified.

Who made it, and when?

Thijs van Loenhout is the credited creator or organization. A documented update was recorded September 25, 2026.