NATASHA TONTEY DEBUTS PRIMATE VISIONS: MACAQUE MACABRE AT MUSEUM MACAN, JAKARTA

Images courtesy of Audemars Piguet Contemporary

“Seek Beyond”

Commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary, the work explores how cultural traditions frame our understanding of the modern world. The exhibition—the artist’s first solo institutional show—will be on view from 16 November 2024 to 6 April 2025.

Natasha Tontey

Le Brassus, 14 November —Artist Natasha Tontey has opened her new large-scale, immersive exhibition, Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, at Museum MACAN (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara), Jakarta, Indonesia. In this multimedia work, Tontey explores the relationship between the native population of black-crested macaques, or yaki, and the indigenous people of South Minahasa. The artist presents a fictional environment, brought to life by film and installation, that interrogates the symbiotic relationship between animals and humans. The work has been commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary, with the in-house curatorial team working closely with Tontey and Museum MACAN to develop and realise this project.

Tontey’s (b. 1989) exploration of her ancestral heritage is core to Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre. In the work, she draws on her ongoing engagement in ritual practices, and her interrogation of social norms in her native Minahasa – in this case, with the local population of macaques. 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 by international organisations, that encourage their preservation. The artist’s work seeks to reveal the biases and connections that humans share with their animal counterparts, envisioning a world where a deeper understanding between species is possible.

Rooted in the theoretical texts of writers including Donna Haraway, Tontey’s research uses a playful mode of storytelling to dissect the complex interaction between the yaki and the Minahasan people. Her single-channel film, at the centre of Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, follows a pair of primatologists who liberate a troop of yaki held captive in a forest. The protagonists engage in dialogue and experiments while imagining a future relationship between these two species. Through a reinterpretation of Mawolay, a Minahasan ritual in which locals wear monkey-like costumes to deter the yaki from raiding their villages, Tontey invites audiences to enter a fictional reality that encourages empathy, understanding, and patience between beings.

Presented by Som Santoso

The artist’s film is presented alongside an installation comprised of original parts of the film’s set, such as costumes and pieces of scenery to draw the audience deeper into the film’s narrative while engaging with these objects in their fantastical environment. Informed by the formal qualities of B movies, horror, and DIY production methods, this exhibition places her work in a long tradition of Indonesian filmmaking that uses creative energy to drive production.

With Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, Natasha Tontey has created a vibrant, multisensory environment that invites viewers on a transformative journey into Tontey’s fictional world. This exhibition reveals the unexpected similarities between humans and other species and envisions a more collaborative future, reflecting Audemars Piguet’s belief in the power of creativity to connect people.

The opening of this installation marks the latest in several Audemars Piguet Contemporary commissions which are currently on public view around the world. These include Petrit Halilaj and Álvaro Urbano’s Lunar Ensemble for Uprising Seas (2023), co-commissioned with TBA-21 Academy, currently shown at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), and Aleksandra Domanovic’s Becoming Another (2021), exhibited at the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna as part of a major mid-career survey of the artist’s work.

“Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre seeks to unearth and examine the complex, often contradictory, relationship between humans and the yaki, the black crested macaque of Minahasa. Through speculative fiction, I try to navigate the intertwined dynamics of primatology, ecofeminism, and technology. The narratology and immersive experience highlight the intricate bond, the messy relationship between humans and the yaki, reflecting the tangled interactions between species and encouraging audiences to consider their relationships with the non-human world.  Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre is a world both playful and macabre, filled with radical oddities!” —Natasha Tontey, the Artist ­­­—

“We’re thrilled to present Natasha Tontey’s Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre at Museum MACAN. Through a compelling combination of immersive installations and videos, Tontey invites the audience to explore the rich tapestry of speculative narratives beyond anthropocentric mindsets, while raising awareness about overlooked cultural heritage and the interconnectedness of humans and non-humans. This thought-provoking work encourages us to reflect on the cultural demarcation of different life forms in the world from the gaze of other species.” —Venus Lau, Director of Museum MACAN ­­­—

“With Primate Visions: Macaque Macabre, Natasha Tontey has created a vibrant, multisensory environment that invites viewers on a transformative journey into Tontey’s fictional world. This work reveals the unexpected similarities between humans and other species and envisions a more collaborative future, reflecting Audemars Piguet’s belief in the power of creativity to connect people. We are proud to have supported the artist in the commissioning of this work, her largest and most complex to date, collaborating closely with the team at Museum MACAN to realise this project in Jakarta.” — Denis Pernet, Curator of Audemars Piguet Contemporary —