Melanie Bonajo creates pleasure-positive camp for Dutch Pavilion at 59th Venice Biennale

Melanie Bonajo represents The Netherlands at the 59th Venice Biennale with an installation in the Chiesetta della Misericordia of Art Events in Cannaregio. The artist describes the work as a collective spell celebrating eco-erotic queer eros through touch tutorials, consent practices, and boundary-setting. Bonajo assembled an international group of gender queer individuals with bicultural identities to explore sexuality beyond Western discourse. The exhibition examines how bodies communicate through closeness and touch, with attention to genital meanings and self-expression as healing. The 2022 Venice Biennale runs from April 23 to November 27. Bonajo expresses cautious excitement about this Biennale edition, noting its potential to reconsider art history and reinstate overlooked artistic practices. The artist prefers the pavilion's location outside the Giardini and its free public access. Bonajo cites Tedje en de Flikkers as an influence from Dutch art history. The artist recalls attending the 2013 Biennale exhibition The Encyclopaedic Palace curated by Massimiliano Gioni, which featured esoteric works that deeply resonated with Bonajo's studies in religious science and art. A memorable personal incident involved a van explosion while leaving Venice during a previous Biennale visit, though all occupants survived.