S.W.A.M.P. (Studies of Work Atmosphere and Mass Production)
S.W.A.M.P. (Studies of Work Atmospheres and Mass Production) focuses on critical themes addressing the effects of global corporate operations, mass media and communication, military- industrial complexes, and general meditations on the liminal area between life and artificial life. SWAMP has been making work in this vein since 1999 using a wide range of media, including custom software, electronics, mechanical devices, and often times working with living organisms.
Matt Kenyon is a Buffalo-based artist + designer whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, MOCAD Detroit, Science Gallery Dublin, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, and the International Print Center. He is a TED Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and his work has been awarded the FILE Prix Lux. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and Gizmodo, and has also appeared in edited volumes such as A Touch of Code (Gestalten Press) and Adversarial Design (MIT Press).
He lives and works in Buffalo, New York, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the University at Buffalo, Art and Technology Program Director, and part of PLATFORM, UB's socially engaged design studio.
Kenyon has participated in numerous past collaborations with artists, architects, and technologists, including Doug Easterly, McLain Clutter, Adam Fure, Tiago Rorke and Wafaa Bilal. He is currently collaborating with Nick Bontrager.
My chapter on recent S.W.A.M.P. art projects appear in Truth-Seeking in an Age of (Mis)Information Overload (SUNY Press, 2024), edited by David R. Castillo, Siwei Lyu, Christina Milletti, and Cynthia Stewart.
My sculpture Kicking the ladder, 2022 is featured in the January/February 2023 (vol. 42/no.1) of Sculpture Magazine.
Limited Edition Cloudburst Exhibition Catalog
The official Cloudburst exhibition catalog is a 52-page document detailing more than two decades of new media artist Matt Kenyon’s career to date. The catalog includes dozens of full color photographs detailing his installations, socially-engaged practice, and even a trio of paintings completed when he still called Louisiana home.
The catalog also includes a statement from Kenyon and an essay from Hilliard Museum of Art curator Benjamin Hickey.
Buy it here.
Recent Exhibitions:
Dumpster, The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (BICA), Nov 10, 2024.
The Dreams of our Fathers: Environment, Technology & Urban Landscapes, Ritter Art Gallery, Florida Atlantic University. January 18, 2024
The Sun Still Rises in Spite of Everything, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, NC. January 16 – April 7, 2024
404 International Festival of Art and Technology, Mexico City, MX.October 2023
Homing, two-person exhibition at Buffalo Arts Studio, Buffalo, NY, Sept 2022.
Cloudburst, Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art, Baton Rouge,LA. I
July 2022.
Wolf at the Door, Undercurrent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. May 2022.
OIL. Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age at the The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Sept 2021
WRO Biennale 2021: REVERSO Wroclaw, Poland Oct 2021.
Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss at the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art. July 2021.
ILLUSION at Manifattura Tabacchi in Cagliar, Italy May 2021.
