From Surface to Substance: Support My Venice Biennale Project

In May 2026, I will exhibit new work at Personal Structures, a major international contemporary art exhibition hosted by the European Cultural Centre (ECC) during the Venice Biennale — and I need your support to bring it to life.

This is a rare opportunity to show critical, interdisciplinary work to over 500,000 international visitors over a seven-month public exhibition — in venues that are free, non-profit, and globally recognized. Your support makes this possible.

✍️ Artist Bio

I am Mathijs Hunfeld, a Dutch interdisciplinary artist currently based in London. My work explores the superficial layers of pop culture, branding, and desire — creating satirical reflections on how identity and mass culture perform each other.

Through sampling and recontextualization, I interrogate the boundary between object and subject, mass appeal and emotional dependency.

I hold an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, and have exhibited internationally, including:

Supported by:

What the Funding Covers

I'm raising €19,000 to fund both exhibition participation and production logistics.

€17,000 — Exhibition Fee

This directly supports:

• Access to historic exhibition venues (Palazzo Mora, Palazzo Bembo, or Marinaressa Gardens)

• Infrastructure, utilities, wall prep, museum lighting, AV equipment

• Staff for installation, maintenance, and takedown

• Printed and digital catalogue inclusion (600 pages)

• Press outreach, PR mailings, and international visibility

• Hosting of two major preview events and ongoing public programming

• Year-round maintenance of the spaces as free-access cultural venues

€2,000 — Logistics & Installation

This covers:

• Shipping and insurance (to and from Venice)

• Travel, accommodation, and on-site installation support

• Materials, documentation, and final deinstallation

About the Work

For the opportunity, I’ll present works from TADA, an ongoing body of work interrogating the collapsing space between personal indulgence and pop-cultural spectacle.

TADA – MANIFESTO

TADA creates compromising body-based accessories and liminal public space, exploring the exchange between pleasure and self-promotion. Inspired by the infantile exclamation “TADA,” it reflects a world of curated desire pushed to the point of collapse. These works sit between subject and object, pleasure and parody — forming a satirical yet intimate cultural critique.

Works Exhibited at Personal Structures

NOW, I’LL BE ANGEL

epoxy resin, plastic bag, metal zip-tie, urethane resin, metal chain, bolts

120 × 120 × 55 cm – 2025

Suspended as a hyper-material body in eerie stillness — part object of desire, part expired promise. Mimicking the illusion of transformation, this work renders a self-aware commodity in the moment of collapse. It exists between ego and disappearance, where transcendence becomes absurd and immediacy turns hollow.

Untitled (rooftop missing)

toy car, mosaic mirror tiles, mild steel, vinyl strap, office wheels – 110 × 60 × 45 cm – 2024

This work undermines the promise of mobility by turning the car into a dysfunctional toy. Its unstable movement and leash-like strap strip it of purpose, exposing a power imbalance between user and object. Balancing cuteness with aggression, it satirizes the adult pursuit of pleasure through design, revealing the absurdity of seeking fulfillment in unruly, over-mediated products.

Untitled (baggie)

kraft paper, clear coat screen-print, mild steel – 60 × 35 × 7 cm – 2024

A degraded parody of luxury. This handbag-form becomes a self-sabotaging object, revealing the dissonance between care and consumption. By collapsing fantasy into obsolescence, it stages the lifecycle of desire, use, and symbolic decay.

Why This Matters

This project allows me to publicly share urgent, conceptually rich work that questions how value, pleasure, and self-image are formed and sold.

Your support enables this work to be part of a global cultural dialogue — and shown in a context where audiences engage deeply with contemporary art across identity, culture, and criticism.

This isn’t just about showing up in Venice. It’s about showing what matters in today’s cultural climate — and doing it without compromise.

Timeline

Time Period Activity

How You Can Help

Thank you for supporting independent art,

Mathijs Hunfeld

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