Studium Generale Rietveld Academie 2025–26

A somatic lecture on When the Body Says Yes. In this talk, melanie bonajo will share their process of creating somatic, social-justice-based films and projects, and the practical “social toolkits” that developed from this work. They will show how these tools connect embodiment with activism and education, and why touch, nervous system regulation, and human connection are not extras but essential political practices. Participants will be invited to try a few gentle exercises and examples from their practice, to experience these ideas in their own bodies and explore how to hold complex spaces where grief, joy, and absurdity can exist together.    melanie bonajo (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Dutch artist, filmmaker, feminist, sexological bodyworker, somaticsex coach and educator, cuddle workshop facilitator and animal rights activist. Through their videos, performances, photographs and installations, Bonajo examines current conundrums of co-existence in a crippling capitalistic systems, and address themes of eroding intimacy and isolation in an increasingly sterile, technological world.[1] They research how technological advances and commodity based pleasures increase feelings of alienation, removing a sense of belonging in an individual, and their works present anti-capitalist methods to reconnect, explore sexualities, intimacies and feelings. Their experimental documentaries often explore communities living or working on the margins of society, either through illegal means or cultural exclusion, and the paradoxes inherent to ideas of comfort with a strong sense for community, equality, and body-politics. Their work has been exhibited and screened internationally, from the Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, to De Appel Arts Centre and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam to Manifesta 12, the Gwanjou Biennale, the Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, the Kunsthalle Basel, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the Berlinale, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Treefort Film Fest.