Artist Natasha Tontey will unveil a major immersive installation titled "The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs" during the Venice Biennale at the Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Jointly commissioned by Berlin’s LAS Art Foundation and Helsinki’s Amos Rex, the work combines video, sound, light, and sculpture to reimagine the story of Len Karamoy, a combatant in the CIA-supported Permesta movement that fought the Indonesian government from 1957 to 1961 in North Sulawesi. Tontey, a Minahasan Indigenous artist, uses LiDAR, quantum ghost imaging, and other technologies to explore Indigenous identity, ecology, and the blurring of history and myth.
This installation matters because it marks Tontey’s most ambitious project to date and solidifies her rising international profile, following her first major institutional exhibition at Museum MACAN in Jakarta. The work addresses themes of Indigenous resistance, self-determination, and the reappropriation of surveillance technologies, resonating with current global political uncertainties. Tontey’s presence at multiple biennials—including the Carnegie International, the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, and previous editions in Istanbul, Mercosul, and Singapore—underscores her growing influence in contemporary art discourse around postcolonial and Indigenous perspectives.