Connecting people through art 

We are happy to announce that artist Natasha Tontey (1989, Indonesia) is the recipient of the Han Nefkens Foundation - Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Grant 2024, in collaboration with Art Hub Copenhagen; ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing; MAXXI, Rome; MoCA, Taipei; MOT, Tokyo and Museu Picasso Barcelona.

Natasha Tontey was selected by the directors and curators of each partner institution, in meetings moderated by Han Nefkens, Founder of the Han Nefkens Foundation.

The Jury stated - “We are pleased to announce Natasha Tontey (1989, Indonesia) as the winner of Han Nefkens Foundation-Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Grant 2024 for her unique insight into ritual and tradition in the era of a fast-changing technological present. Tontey comfortably combines different layers and techniques to imagine an absurd fiction critiquing gender and masculinity in the above-mentioned context through elements of care and compassion. She utilizes a humorous yet subversive language to offer a speculative way of thinking about mythical and ancestral knowledges.”

Natasha Tontey stated: “I am pleased and honored to receive the Han Nefkens Video Production Grant. I believe this opportunity will deepen both my artistic research and experimentation. My work thrives on the unconventional, blending the odd, the good, the bad taste, and the grotesque, alongside critical reflections grounded in the indigenous knowledge and resistance of the Minahasan people.”

“With this support, I aim to channel the raw and unpolished energy of video-making to challenge conventional ideas of taste and narrative, always striving to push moving images in unpredictable directions.” “My sincerest gratitude to all the jurors, the Han Nefkens Foundation, and the partnering institutionsᅳLoop Barcelona, Art Hub Copenhagen, ILHAM Gallery, Inside-Out Art Museum, MAXXI, MoCA Taipei, MOT Tokyo, and Museu Picasso Barcelonaᅳfor this incredible opportunity.”

Tontey will receive $15,000 from the Han Nefkens Foundation to support the production of a new, limited-edition video artwork. The new artwork will then be presented at Art Hub Copenhagen; ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur; Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing; MAXXI, Rome; MoCA Taipei; MOT, Tokyo and Museu Picasso Barcelona.

In order to consolidate the candidates’ career, the Grant appraises emerging promising artists, who are 40 years old or less, of Asian nationality or living in Asia and who have established a solid trajectory but have not had the opportunity to exhibit extensively.

Natasha Tontey was selected as the recipient of the grant by a judging panel chaired by Han Nefkens and composed of Emilio Alvarez: Founder and Director Loop, Barcelona; Tonina Cerdà: Head of Public Programmes Museu Picasso Barcelona; Kyongfa Che: Curator, MOT Tokyo; Jacob Fabricius: Director, Art Hub Copenhagen; Rahel Joseph: Director, Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpar; Carol Yinghua Lu: Director, Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing; Francesco Stocchi: Director, MAXXI Rome and Hua-Tzu Chan: Deputy Director, MoCA Taipei in the presence of Hilde Teerlinck and Alessandra Biscaro, respectively Director and Coordinator of the Han Nefkens Foundation.

The shortlist for the Han Nefkens Foundation - Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Grant 2024 included: Chong Yan Chuah (1992, Malaysia), Pranay Dutta (1993, India), Zike HE (1990, China), Wei HU (1989, China), Wataru Koyama (1992, Japan), Yi-Fan Li (1989, Taiwan), Pallavi Paul (1987, India), Wenmin Tong (1989, China) and Natasha Tontey (1989, Indonesia).

The initial selection artists formally presented to the jury was made by the following scouts: Xian Chen, Olivia Chow, Wei-Tzu Chuang, Mario D’Souza, Erica Yu-Wen Huang, Jihoi Lee, Junxi LU, Meta Moeng, Iaroslav Volovod, Sau Bin Yap, Haruko Kumakura.

Natasha Tontey (1989, Indonesia) is a Minahasan artist based in between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her artistic practice predominantly explores the fictional accounts of the history and myths surrounding ‘manufactured fear.’ In her practice, she observes any possibilities of other futures that are projected not from the perspective of major and established institutions, but a subtle and personal struggle of the outcasted entities and beings.

Her recent exhibitions include a solo show at “Primate Visions; Macaque Macabre” presented by Audemars Piguet Contemporary at The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN), Jakarta, Indonesia (2023), “Garden Amidst the Flame” at Auto Italia, London, UK (2022). And selected group shows and screening 34th Singapore International Film Festival, 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Fesival (2023), Singapore Biennale (2022); De Stroom Den Haag (2022); GHOST;2565, Bangkok, Thailand (2022); Protozone8 Queer Trust, Zürich, Switzerland (2022); Arko Art Council, Seoul, Korea (2022), Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (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.