New Pessimism: Tropical frontier brings together a selection of works by Natasha Tontey and Riar Rizaldi, both artists from Indonesia. Natasha Tontey is a multidisciplinary artist and designer who has recently been listed as a ‘Future Great 2023’ by ArtReview. Her works have been shown in transmediale (Berlin), Auto Italia (London), Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul) and so forth, and are now showing at the Singapore Biennale 2022. Riar Rizaldi is an award winning artist and filmmaker. His works have been shown at various international film festivals including Locarno, IFFR, Viennale and so forth, as well as at the Centre Pompidou Paris, Istanbul Biennial and Venice Architecture Biennale.

For the last 10 years, Natasha Tontey and Riar Rizaldi have explored and investigated the notion of horror, terror, and bad taste in popular culture through a series of moving image practices. Their interest in observing and dissecting social, technological, and ecological issues is rooted in the landscape and social dynamic of Indonesia. Growing up consuming campy horror cinema in the 80s and 90s, science-fiction pulp literature, ghost stories, the underground scene, Indonesian soap operas, and engaging with social changemakings and indigenous movements, Natasha and Riar transform the codes of b-grade media and popular culture to generate fiction and narrative where ecological and social issues are dissected in an abstract and sometimes bad taste way. Recently, they label their work as a ‘new style of pessimism.’ A term they use to describe their artistic practice and pessimism towards the social and ecological situation in Indonesia—and also the world. 

For the tours and performance information check the website.

Venue address: 4/F Tomorrow Maybe + Music Room, 380 Nathan Road, Jordan