Toni Brell
CV
hi@tonibrell.de

Exercises for Ungrounding is a workshop developed by Kati Masami Menze, Daria Nazarenko and Toni Brell. 

It was born out of the desire to challenge the precarious working conditions that we face as visual and performing artists. 

Together with other artists, we examined how the conditions that we are faced with in our profession unsettle us on a daily basis and the implications this has for our practices. 

We invited our peers to connect with themselves and each other while also pushing their boundaries through physical, sensory and writing exercises.


Toni Brell, Kati Masami Menze, Daria Nazarenke, Workshop at Maschinenhaus Essen
Documentation of the workshop during “somebody@maschinenhaus“
Photos: Jakob Kielgaß

Toni Brell creates intimate performances and installations using sound, text and objects. They are interested in the radical potential of sensory experiences while creating situations in which an audience can react and relate to what they see.

Work
CV

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

2024

Stichting Stokroos, project Grant, NL

2024

Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, project Grant, NL

2023

Mondriaan Fonds, Artist Start Grant, NL

2022

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

2021

Project grant, Student Council, Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL

2017

Project grant, Mart Stam Stipend, Berlin, DE

Residencies and Research

2025

Forthcoming: Saari Residency, artist in residence, Mynämäki, FI

2025

Forthcoming: Est-Nord-Est, artist in residence, St-Jean-Port-Joli, CA

2025

Forthcoming: Kunstcentrum De Ploeg artist in residence, Groningen, NL

2024

Platform, artist in residence, Vaasa, FI

2024

BEK Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, studio residency, Bergen, NO

2024

Maschinenhaus Essen, Tiny Tiny Residency, studio residency, somebody@maschinenhaus, with Kati Masami Menze, Essen, DE

2023

Saari Residency, Research Pavilion #5, research residency, with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Mynämäki, FI

2023

IPOP’s Queer Feedback Sessions at DAS graduate school, Amsterdam, NL

2022

Ando Future Studios, research residency, with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, TAKEHEART Residency hosted by PACT Zollverein, DE

2022

Østfold International Theatre, Norway, studio residency, with Scores for Gardens, NO

2022

Worlds that World, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, mentorship programme, with Scores for Gardens, Vijfhuizen, NL

Selected exhibitions and performances

2025

Forthcoming: Kunstcentrum De Ploeg, That one time the landscape changed, group exhibition, Groningen, NL

2025

Forthcoming: Prospects, Art Rotterdam, group exhibition, NL

2024

Forthcoming: NEVERNEVERLAND, duo exhibition, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Forthcoming: Treehouse NDSM, “Rocks, roughly the color of my eyes”, performance, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Kunstcentrum De Ploeg, “Soundwalk for ten flutes”, performance, Groningen, NL

2024

Amsterdam BANGS Festival, “Etude for Ears and Hands”, performance, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Platform, “Rocks, roughly the color of my eyes”, performance, Vasa, FI

2024

Onomatopee, “Dredged up / in the meantime”, performance, as part of Dreams of Dreams of Dreams finnissage and
book launch, Eindhoven, NL

2024

Radion, “Dredged up / in the meantime”, performance, as part of SURGES, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Bar Theo, “ASMRcore”, performance and listening session, as part of Weather Report, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Mime Fabriek, “Etude for Pipes, Pumps, and Resistance Bands”, performance, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Fries Museum, performance during finissage “Seeds of Memory”, with Toni Steffens and Antonella Fittipaldi commissioned by Mercedes Azpilicueta, Leeuwarden NL

2024

4bid Gallery, “A gun, a French horn and a Chupa Chups lollipop from 1996”, performance, as part of “B.Base. A body based space”, Amsterdam, NL

2024

Maschinenhaus Essen, “A chronology of fiction”, performance, with Kati Masami Menze, Essen, DE

2024

Sonic Acts Biennial, W139, “Still Life of a Laid Table with Lecithin and Voice”, installation and performance, with ghenwa noiré and Brackish, Amsterdam, NL

2023

Personeelskamer, “Lore or: To also cradle a cow”, as part of “Written in a kind of slang”, group-exhibition and solo-performance, work in progress, Amsterdam, NL

2023

Garage Rotterdam, “Lore or: The Flower Feeder”, solo-performance, work in progress, Rotterdam, NL

2023

Sipping Dunes, performance and Installation with Brackish, commissioned by Into The Great Wide Open, Vlieland, NL

2023

A Mouthful of Whispers – installation and performance at Treehouse NDSM, with Brackish, Amsterdam, NL

2023

Drifting Nocturnes, performance with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, at Augusta Gallery, HIAP, Helsinki, FI

2023

Augusta Gallery, HIAP, Research Pavilion #5, group exhibition, commissioned by Uniarts Helsinki, Helsinki, FI

2023

Zone2Source, A liquid performance tasting, curated by Simulacrum Magazine, with Brackish, Amsterdam, NL

2022

Zine Fest Rotterdam, performance, with Brackish, NL

2022

Motto Berlin, “Affect Aliens & Revolutionary Despair”, reading, DE

2022

KunstHub Bink, “Brackish”, group exhibition and performance, Elburg, NL

2022

Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, “Worlds that World”, performance with Scores for Gardens, Vijfhuizen, NL

2021

Het Hem, “Roots and Wings”, group exhibition, Zaandam, NL

2020

The Grey Space in the Middle, “It’s dark, I lie awake again”, performance,  Den Haag, NL

Selected teaching and workshops

2024

Het Verbond / Frascati, Touch as a Kind of Listening, sound and performance workshop, Amsterdam, NL,

since 2023

Design Academy Eindhoven, tutor for narrative and time-based media, Eindhoven, NL

2023

Maschinenhaus Essen, Exercises for Ungrounding as part of “Showcase 2023”, workshop with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, Essen, DE

2022

KABK, Fictions and Forecasts: Orbiting a collective body, workshop with Scores for Gardens, as part of movement Lab, Den Haag, NL

2022

Sandberg Instituut, Materialising Materials, storytelling and writing workshop, with Naomi Credé, NL

2022

Weissensee Academy of Art, tutor for digital design, Visual Communication, Berlin, DE

2021/2022

Academy of Art Leipzig, tutor for experimental zine-making as part of Undisciplinary Learning, together with District Berlin, Leipzig, DE

2021

Sandberg Instituut, Ghosts in the family, storytelling workshop, with Amy Suo Wu, Amsterdam, NL

2015

Think Twice Before You Think, Co-organiser of the discussion and prototyping workshop on the proposition of setting up a new design school. At Antiuniversity Now, with Sophie Dyer, London, UK

2015

Glasgow School of Art, Inside Out School, workshop on critical education, with Sophie Dyer, Thom Swann and Rosen Eveleigh, Glasgow, UK