NATASHA TONTEY:
The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs
9 MAY – 25 OCTOBER 2026
ATENEO VENETO, VENICE
Amos Rex together with LAS Art Foundation (Berlin) present a new commission by Natasha Tontey at Ateneo Veneto on the occasion of the Biennale di Venezia – 61st International Art Exhibition. Tontey (born 1989 in Minahasa, Indonesia) is known for imagining alternative futures from the perspectives of marginalised entities.
The most ambitious work to date, The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs is a multi-media installation that follows the story of a 1950s female resistance fighter in Indonesia. Visitors encounter an environment of video, sound, light and sculptural elements, including multi-channel moving-image works, immersive sound design and biomorphic sculptural forms that anchor the narrative spatially. Through bodily transformation, Minahasan symbolism, and contemporary military imaging, the work examines agency, resilience, and subversion in an era increasingly defined by surveillance.
The work
The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs will be on view at Ateneo Veneto, Venice’s baroque academy of science, literature, and the arts, located in San Marco.
Tontey’s multimedia installation relays the story of a 1950s female resistance fighter in Indonesia. Through bodily transformation, Minahasan symbolism, and contemporary military imaging, the work examines agency, resilience, and subversion in an era increasingly defined by surveillance.
Visitors encounter an environment of video, sound, light and sculptural elements, including multi-channel moving-image works, immersive sound design and biomorphic sculptural forms that anchor the narrative spatially.
The artist
“Through this project, I try to listen to the quieter tones of history—the minor keys where fragments of memory, mourning, and ritual continue to resonate. These subdued frequencies, often drowned out by louder narratives, are where I find gestures of survival, care, and imagination that persist in spite of violence. At the same time, this minor knowledge also opens up the possibility of developing a technological future rooted in other perspectives—not necessarily human—more closely attuned to cosmological knowledge.”
Natasha Tontey is a Minahasan artist and researcher based in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Tontey’s practice encompasses film and video, performances and installations, and often explores alternative futures from the perspectives of marginalised entities.
