04 – 07/2026: Atelierhof Werenzhain, group exhibition, DE

05/2026: Atelierhof Werenzhain, performance, DE

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In installation and performance, Toni Brell approaches Central European ceremonial practices through their sensory worlds, where neurodivergent listening informs how perception unfolds. The installations long for simultaneity. Through a syntax of gestures, shapes, and characters that reappear and shift over time, Brell develops a poetics of divergence – a counter-language to regimes of normativity. This approach materialises in composite sculptures, often made from ceramic, where elements are fused while seams remain visible as traces of tension between tradition and difference. These objects function as props, scores, and agents within installations, structuring actions, movements, and encounters. No single element takes precedence; instead, the work insists on a multi-temporal, intercorporeal field of attention. Since 2023 Brell teaches Narration in Space at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Education

2021

MFA, Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL

2018

BA, Visual Communication, Weissensee Academy of Art, Berlin, DE

2009

BA, Theatre and Media Studies, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, DE

Grants

2025

Mondriaan Fonds, Voucher Development, NL

Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Stipend, NL

Cultuurfonds, Project Grant, NL

Amarte, Development Grant, NL

2024

Mondriaan Fonds Project Grant, NL

Stichting Stokroos, project Grant, NL

Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, project Grant, NL

2023

Mondriaan Fonds, Artist Start Grant, NL

2022

TakeHeart research grant, with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, DE

Residencies

2026

Forthcoming: Workspace Brussels, studio residency, Brussels, BE

2025 Saari Residency, artist in residence, Mynämäki, FI
ALBE/KAOS, artist in residence, Kapellen, BE
Est-Nord-Est, artist in residence, St-Jean-Port-Joli, CA
2024 Platform, artist in residence, Vaasa, FI
BEK Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, artist in residence, Bergen, NO
Maschinenhaus Essen, Tiny Tiny Residency, studio residency, with Kati Masami-Menze, Essen, DE
2023 Saari Residency, Research Pavilion, research residency, with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Mynämäki, FI
2022 Ando Future Studios, TAKEHEART Residency, studio residency, with Kati Masami-Menze and Daria Nazarenko, DE
Østfold International Theatre, studio residency, with Katrine Leth Nielsen, Juan Felipe Amaya Gonzalez and Angeliki Tzortzakaki, NO
Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Worlds that World, mentorship programme, with Katrine Leth Nielsen, Juan Felipe Amaya Gonzalez and Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Vijfhuizen, NL

Exhibitions

2026

Forthcoming: Augen Auf, Atelierhof Werenzhain, group, Werenzhain, DE

Forthcoming: Heden X Dopamine, VHDG, group, Leeuwarden, NL

Relationscapes: Encounters, De Vishal, group, Haarlem, NL
2025 Relationscapes: Framing, Herbert Read Gallery, group, Canterbury, UK
Toen de dieren nog spraken, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, group, Vijfhuizen, NL
Veranderende Vergezichten, Kunstcentrum De Ploeg, group, Groningen, NL
Prospects, Art Rotterdam, group, Rotterdam, NL
2024 a wall a drip a trace, NEVERNEVERLAND, duo, Amsterdam, NL
The Spell of the sensous, Sonic Acts Biennial, W139, group, Amsterdam, NL
Rocks, roughly the color of my eyes, Platform, solo, Vasa, FI
2023 Into the Great Wide Open, group, Vlieland, NL
Research Pavilion #5, Augusta Gallery, group, Helsinki, FI
2021 Roots and Wings, Het Hem, group, Zaandam, NL

Performances

2026

Forthcoming: Partitur für eine Herde, Atelierhof Werenzhain, Werenzhain, DE

A Singing Bone, with Toni Steffens, TAC, Eindhoven, NL
A Singing Bone, with Toni Steffens, Boring Festival, Haarlem, NL
2025 Soundwalk for Ears and Hands, NDSM-werf, Amsterdam, NL
Can't hold a thrum without spilling it, with Toni Steffens, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, NL
Cloudbells and Groundhorns, Kunstcentrum De Ploeg, Groningen, NL
Toward an undulting present, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam
2024 Toward an undulating present, NEVERNEVERLAND, Amsterdam, NL
Rocks, roughly the color of my eyes, Treehouse NDSM, Amsterdam, NL
Soundwalk for 10 Flutes, Kunstcentrum De Ploeg, Groningen, NL
Etude for Ears and Hands, Amsterdam BANGS Festival, Amsterdam, NL
Dredged up / in the meantime, Onomatopee, Eindhoven, NL
Dredged up / In the meantime, Radion, Amsterdam, NL
ASMRcore, Bar Theo, Amsterdam, NL
Etude for Pipes, Pumps, and Resistance Bands, Mime Fabriek, Amsterdam, NL
A gun, a French horn and a Chupa Chups lollipop from 1996, 4bid Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
A chronology of fiction, with Kati Masami Menze, Maschinenhaus Essen, Essen, DE
Still Life of a Laid Table with Lecithin and Voice, with ghenwa noiré, Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith, Sonic Acts Biennial, W139, Amsterdam, NL
2023 To also cradle a cow, Personeelskamer, Amsterdam, NL
How close is too close, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
Sipping Dunes, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith, Into the Great Wide Open, Vlieland, NL
Drifting Nocturnes, with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Augusta Gallery, HIAP, Helsinki, FI
Sip, Steep, Sample, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith, Zone2Source, Amsterdam, NL
A Mouthful of Whispers, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen Smith, Treehouse NDSM, Amsterdam, NL
2022 A Dinner as Zine, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith, WORM, Rotterdam, NL
Lore, Motto Berlin, Berlin, DE
Brackish, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith, Catalina Reyes, KunstHub Bink, Elburg, NL
Worlds that World, with Scores for Gardens, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, NL
2020 It's dark, I lie awake again, The Grey Space in the Middle, Den Haag, NL

Teaching and workshops

2024 Het Verbond / Frascati, Touch as a Kind of Listening, workshop, Amsterdam, NL
since 2023 Design Academy Eindhoven, Tutor for Narrative and Time-Based Media, Eindhoven, NL
2023 Maschinenhaus Essen, Exercises for Ungrounding, workshop, with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, Essen, DE
2022 KABK, Movement Lab, Fictions and Forecasts: Orbiting a collective body, workshop, with Scores for Gardens, Den Haag, NL
Sandberg Instituut, Materialising Materials, workshop, with Naomi Credé, Amsterdam, NL
Weissensee Academy of Art, Digital Design, Tutor, Berlin, DE
2021/2022 Academy of Art Leipzig, Undisciplinary Learning, Tutor, with District Berlin, Leipzig, DE
2021 Sandberg Instituut, Ghosts in the family, workshop, with Amy Suo Wu, Amsterdam, NL
2016 Antiuniversity Now, Think Twice Before You Think, workshop, with Soph Dyer, London, UK
2015 Glasgow School of Art, Inside Out School, workshop, with Soph Dyer, Thom Swann and Rosen Eveleigh, Glasgow, UK

Media

2026 Podcast: KAOS Radio, KAOS, BE
2025 Feature: Veranderende Vergezichten, Art Department, NL
Podcast: Invisible Cities, FI
Interview: Six Questions, Tique, NL