Of Other Tomorrows Never Known presents an insight into Natasha Tontey’s ongoing speculations into how we may act, react, think, and rethink our relationship with technology.

Emerging from her own background and personal histories, Natasha’s art offers incredible insights into evolving indigenous perspectives towards machines. Of Other Tomorrows Never Known borrows from Natasha’s engagement with communities from Minahasa in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, and their approach to technology as well as evolving relationship with daily rituals and mystical beliefs. For instance, with widespread accessibility to the internet, Minahasa communities have incorporated smartphones to support daily rituals. In a recent cultural assembly, artificial intelligence was discussed rigorously.

This performance-lecture maintains Natasha’s approach to generating speculative narratives with the hope that alternative worldviews may emerge in the conditions of our times. Audiences will be prompted to participate in a dialogue activity, which will be integrated into a digital ritual procession as part of the lecture performance in the second half of the programme.

The session will be followed by a conversation with SAM curator Syaheedah Iskandar. This event is held in conjunction with the series, Skill Futures.

About the artist

Natasha Tontey explores fictional accounts of the history and myths surrounding ‘manufactured fear.’ Observing possibilities of other futures alternative to the perspective of established canons, her practice looks into the struggles of the outcasted entities and beings.

Of Other Tomorrows Never Known is a prelude to Makatana, a new project reflecting on these technological perspectives. Makatana will be the third and last chapter following her engagement with Minahasa knowledge systems, as seen in her exploration of their economies in The Epoch of Mapalucene & Wa’anak Witu Watu (2021) and gender multiplicities in Garden Amidst the Flame; Lacuna for Compassion (2022).

Natasha received the HASH Award from the ZKM, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and Akademie Schloss-Solitude. She is currently a fellow for Human Machine of the Junge Akademie at Akademie der Künste Berlin (2021-2023). Recent exhibitions include a solo presentation at Auto Italia, London, UK (2022), and participation in group shows, including the Singapore Biennale (2022); GHOST: 2565, Bangkok, Thailand (2022); Protozone8 Queer Trust, Zürich, Switzerland (2022); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (2022); Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany (2021).

She is based between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

About Skill Futures

In a time when the physical and digital are blurred, what skills do we need to understand and critically shape our hybrid realities? Artists are now being asked to invest in digital skills more than ever: to "upskill" and pursue "personal development," to prepare to emerge on the other side of COVID equipped for a future whose material and digital realities will be even more intertwined. But what does it mean to become "smarter"? To what ends are new technical skills being pursued? Skill Futures is a digital commissioning platform of the Singapore Art Museum, which features performances, workshops, and experimental lectures. It elaborates on the new forms of "intelligence" that emerges from different ways of reading the screen as a speculative medium of the future. Click here to find out more about Skill Futures in our blog article.

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Please note:

• Please ensure that you enter a valid email address as you will receive an email with a link to the online programme/event near the day of the programme/event.
• This session will be recorded, and these materials may be used by SAM for museum-related publicity purposes only. By attending this programme, you consent to being photographed, filmed and/or video-recorded.
• We reserve the right to cancel or rearrange the organised event.Please ensure that you enter a valid email address as you will receive an email with a link to the online programme/event near the day of the programme/event.