melanie bonajo installation 'Progress / Regress'

melanie bonajo’s installation “Progress / Regress” (2016) explores how technological innovations affect human relationships. The digital revolution has demanded significant effort from older people – through their personal and moving stories, the installation reveals the difficulties faced by the older generation in adapting to a society constantly striving for progress and speed. The work analyzes how attitudes towards work, time, money, and emotions change with technological advancement, and how this impacts perceptions of older people – who are often considered economically unproductive, thus remaining on the margins of society, rarely seen in public life or visual culture. Playfully humorous and experimental, the work invites viewers to change their perspective on older people and rethink their relationship with rapid technological progress, information anxiety, and to assess their impact on contemporary individuals. melanie bonajo* are artists, filmmakers, and activists whose works explore the contemporary human condition, the fading of intimacy, and isolation in a technologized world. They propose alternative, non-consumerist ways of connection, intimacy, and emotional exploration. They often focus on social groups on the periphery 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 in institutions such as Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Haus der Kunst in Munich, and Tate Modern in London. * In consideration of melanie bonajo’s chosen gender-neutral pronouns “they/their”, the Lithuanian language refers to the artists using the plural form “jie/jos”. Writing the personal name in lowercase is a conscious gesture by the artists, questioning linguistic norms and emphasizing the supremacy of personal identity and community over institutional rules – rejecting uppercase letters as a symbol of power and individualism. More about the installation: https://mo.lt/ivykiai/melanie-bonajo/

Adresas: MO muziejus