Natasha Tontey to Unveil Major New Commission During Venice Biennalez

Artist Natasha Toney, who has just concluded her first institutional exhibition, will unveil an ambitious immersive installation at the Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, a 16th-century building in San Marco during the Venice Biennale.

Jointly commissioned by the LAS Art Foundation in Berlin and the Amos Rex Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Phantom Fighters and the Metabolism of Disobedient OrgansThe installation combines video, sound, light and sculptural elements to reimagine Len Karamoy’s story. Len Karamoy was a fighter for Permesta, a CIA-backed political movement that fought against the Indonesian government in North Sulawesi from 1957 to 1961.

The 37-year-old artist has gained international attention for his darkly humorous videos and installations that explore Aboriginal identity and cosmology, ecology, futurism, and the boundaries between history and myth. Tontey often blends the aesthetics of B-movies, horror films and low-budget television with DIY special effects and advanced imaging technology.

exist phantom warriorTonti transformed Karamoi from a single historical figure into a mythical figure that multiplied through a chorus of young troops, according to a press release. Tondi’s Karamoi becomes larger than life, with three breasts and exaggerated muscles, a physical expression of her will for self-determination. Tontey and Karamoy both belong to the Minahasan, an indigenous group in North Sulawesi.

Much of the video employs LiDAR remote sensing, quantum ghost imaging, 3D modeling photogrammetry and thermal cameras as a means to repurpose contemporary forms of surveillance and control.

“Through this project, I sought to listen to the quieter tones of history—the fragments of memory, mourning, and ritual that continue to resonate in minor keys,” Tonti said in a statement. “These soft frequencies are often drowned out by loud narratives, but within these frequencies I discovered gestures of survival, care and imagination that persisted despite the violence.”

In a joint statement, LAS CEO Bettina Kames and Amos Rex CEO Kieran Long hailed the work as Tontey’s “most ambitious” to date and said it “speaks to the extraordinary times we live in, characterized by the ever-changing uncertainty of the political and technological landscape.”

Tontey arrives in Venice a year after her first major institutional exhibition, “Primate Vision Macaques Creepy,” at the MACAN Museum in Jakarta from 2024 to 2025. Art Network News and received rave reviews art forumcritic Hung Duong praised Tontey for breaking “preconceived hierarchies in human-primate relationships” that “prompted[s] We envision more egalitarian forms of interspecific relationships. ” In the play’s immersive installation and accompanying film, Tonti explores the relationship between humans and macaques with humor and horror to shake up established notions of human supremacy.

Although Toti is not currently working with galleries, she has quickly become a regular on the biennale circuit. Her work will appear at the 59th Carnegie International Festival in Pittsburgh, which opens this week, and at the Image Movement Biennial in Tunisia later this year. She has also exhibited at the 2025 Istanbul Biennale, the 2025 Mercosul Biennale in Brazil and the 2022 Singapore Biennale.

Tontey’s Venice exhibition will open on May 5, with an artist talk preceded by a public opening. It will run until October 25 before heading to Amos Rex in 2027.