This film has been on view at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam 2019/20.
The video installation called TouchMETell allows children (and adults) to think and talk about intimacy, their limits and body awareness.
Melanie Bonajo and a group of children aged 6-8 investigate how they experience their own body and physical contact with others. Melanie uses open interview techniques and kinesthetic forms of play which take place in a soft, fuzzy, cuddly and multi-colored landscape of different formed objects.
‘What is sex? Does love have anything to do with sex? Can you feel emtional pain in your body? What are feelings? Are you ever lonely?’ Is a selection of the many questions Melanie asks the children while they push, hug, paint or stroke each other.
With TouchMETell Bonajo wants to initiate a discussion about boundaries, gender roles, physical autonomy and intimacy and the lack of physical contact in this digital age. We seem to have forgotten the language of the body. In a world where digital contact predominates, many of us are increasingly struggling with intimacy and defining boundaries and needs. What does the lump in my throat or the knot in my stomach tell me? Our proverbial language reveals the wisdom of the body, but how can we really learn to listen to it? TouchMETell offers a counterbalance in our digital culture and the current taboo around physical intimacy. What are limits? How do I discuss this with the other person? What is physical autonomy? What is love? All topics that are discussed and that help the children learn to trust each other. They discover the difference between giving and receiving. The work can be viewed in the same colorful and fluffy world that the children were interviewed in.
TouchMeTell was commissioned by Cinekid, the media festival for children. A part of TouchMETell was seen at the Westergasfabrieksterrein, during the MediaLab. At the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the installation is supplemented after 26 October 2019 with the work of the Cinekid Festival, workshops and an additional music video clip. Afterwards, the installation will travel for educational purposes to libraries and schools in the Netherlands.