melanie bonajo. Progress

melanie bonajo's installation "Progress vs. Regress" (2016) examines how technological innovations affect human relationships. The digital revolution has demanded a great deal of effort from older people – through their personal and moving stories, the installation reveals the difficulties the older generation faces in trying to adapt to a society that strives for constant progress and speed.

The work analyzes how, along with technological progress, attitudes toward work, time, money, and emotions change, and how this affects perceptions of older people – they are often considered economically unproductive, thus remaining on the margins of society, rarely seen in either public life or visual culture.

Playfully humorous and experimental, the work invites us to change our perspective on older people and rethink our relationship with rapid technological progress and information anxiety, and to evaluate their impact on today's human.

melanie bonajo* are artists, filmmakers, and activists whose work explores the state of contemporary humanity, vanishing intimacy, and isolation in a technologized world. They offer alternative, non-consumerist ways of exploring connection, intimacy, and feelings. They often focus on social groups on the fringes of society, emphasizing the importance of community, equality, and body politics.

melanie bonajo represented the Netherlands at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and their work has been presented at institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Haus der Kunst in Munich, and Tate Modern in London.