Institutions, Venice
Melanie Bonajo
When the Body Says Yes
Dutch PavilionMelanie Bonajo is the artist who will represent the Netherlands at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2022. In the Dutch Pavilion Bonajo will present a new video installation called When the Body Says Yes. The exhibition will take place at the Dutch pavilion's one-off location for the upcoming edition: the Chiesetta della Misericordia of Art Events in the Cannaregio neighbourhood. Melanie Bonajo (they / their) is a Dutch artist, filmmaker, certified sexological bodyworker and somatic sex coach. The new work, specially commissioned for the Biennale Arte 2022, is part of their ongoing research into the current status of intimacy in our increasingly alienating, commodity-driven world. For Bonajo, touch can be a powerful remedy for the modern epidemic of loneliness. Bonajo will be working with a curatorial team consisting of Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, Geir Haraldseth and Soraya Pol. In collaboration with scenographer Théo Demans, bonajo is creating an immersive video installation that will draw visitors into a perspective-altering environment. The visitors’ sensory awakening will help them to reflect on the meaning of touch and intimacy in relation to their own bodies. Bonajo says: “With this project we want to reprioritise the body as a vehicle for connection and safety, cultivating touch and friendship as a form of activism. Feeling is a form of intelligence; thinking through touch.” For the upcoming edition, the Mondriaan Fund has decided to break with tradition and present the Dutch entry at a new location, the Chiesetta della Misericordia of Art Events, a deconsecrated 13th-century church in Cannaregio. The Mondriaan Fund has meanwhile invited Estonia to make use of the Rietveld Pavilion for the 2022 Venice Biennale. The Mondriaan Fund officially handed over the Rietveld Pavilion to Estonia in November 2021. Director Eelco van der Lingen is delighted: “An exciting artist in an exciting location. The Chiesetta della Misericordia is a splendid building in the middle of the city. I am looking forward to seeing how that relates to the splendid work of Melanie Bonajo.” Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund Curators: Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, Geir Haraldseth, Soraya Pol