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06 September 2024
Artist Natasha Tontey (b.1989, Indonesia) presents Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre – a major installation that will run from 16 November 2024 until 6 April 2025 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), Jakarta. This expansive new installation marks Tontey’s first solo exhibition in an institutional context and will explore the multi-layered connection between humans and the natural world, interweaving primatology and speculative fiction.
Through the use of multiscreen projection and installation, the work questions how ancestral cultures harmonise with our understanding of the modern world.
In Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, Tontey bridges mystic indigenous culture with youth culture, drawing on futuristic aesthetics of video games, music videos, fantasy fiction and DIY productions. Incorporating installation and multi-channel video, a first in her practice, Tontey will create a fantastical environment, offering new personal perspectives on worldviews regarding environmental preservation and cultural heritage. The multiscreen projection and installation will create an immersive environment for visitors, where they can explore the setting and costumes used in the film.
The work explores a reversal of the power relationships between living creatures – monkeys and humans – as seen from the perspective of Minahasan culture. The black-crested macaque, known as Yaki in Minahasan, is simultaneously viewed as part of the social structure of everyday life by the indigenous community and as vermin, known for invading villages and stealing crops. This relationship is further complicated by the recognition of the Yaki as an endangered species, prompting international organisations to encourage their preservation. As such, Tontey’s work considers the ways in which worldviews can conflict, highlighting divisions between perspectives and practices.
In her work, Tontey observes the subtle and personal struggle of outcast entities and beings, presenting possibilities of alternative futures. As reflected in Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, her artistic practice predominantly explores the history and myths surrounding what the artist calls ‘manufactured fear’: how it is constructed, facilitated and evoked.
Audemars Piguet Contemporary has been working closely with the artist and Museum MACAN, led by Venus Lau, to stage this work in Jakarta.
Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre will be on view at The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN) from 16 November 2024 until 6 April 2025.
Address
Jl. Panjang No. 5 AKR Tower, Jakarta 11530 Indonesia
Visiting Hours
Tuesday – Sunday: 10AM to 6PM; Last Access at 5:30
Closed on Mondays
"Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre" is an effort to unpack, unearth, and explore the tension between humans and the Yaki, the black crested macaque, in Minahasa, which is often contradictory and convoluted. It engages with the dynamics of primatology, ecofeminism, and technology through the approach of speculative fiction. "Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre" is a both a playful and a macabre world full of radical oddities!
Natasha Tontey
Artist
Natasha Tontey is a Minahasan artist based in between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Her recent exhibitions include solo show at Auto Italia, London (2022). Selected group shows and screening at Museum MACAN, Jakarta, 34th Singapore International Film Festival, 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2023), Singapore Biennale (2022); De Stroom Den Haag (2022); GHOST; 2565, Bangkok (2022); Protozone8 Queer Trust, Zürich (2022); Arko Art Council, Seoul (2022), Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2021); transmediale, Berlin (2021); Performance Space 2021, Sydney; Other Futures, Amsterdam (2021); Singapore International Film Festival (2021), Kyoto Experiment 2021; Asian Film Archive, Singapore (2021). In 2020, she received the HASH Award from the ZKM, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and Akademie Schloss-Solitude. She was a fellow for Human Machine of the Junge Akademie at Akademie der Künste Berlin 2021–2023.
We are delighted to extend our curatorial programme to a new region and bring Natasha’s visionary concept to life. "Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre" marks Natasha’s largest solo show to date and Audemars Piguet Contemporary is proud to support her during this exciting moment in her career. At Audemars Piguet, we believe that creativity helps us see ourselves and the world differently. We look forward to sharing Natasha’s unique installation that asks us to reconsider our relationships with living creatures and the environment.
Denis Pernet
Curator, Audemars Piguet Contemporary