Matt Kenyon: A secret memorial for civilian casualties
From a plant that lives or dies based on stock prices to an oilcan that flows backward, Matt Kenyon creates art that startles, amuses and challenges assumptions.
About Matt Kenyon
Matt Kenyon works at the intersection of art and technology, creating pieces that question society’s large, complex systems — from our reliance on global corporations and oil, to the military-industrial complex. His works include: “SPORE 1.1,” a self-sustaining ecosystem for a rubber tree, purchased from The Home Depot and watered in conjunction with Home Depot stock prices; “Supermajor,” a collection of vintage oilcans with droplets of oil that defy gravity and flow back into a punctured hole; and ”Notepad,” a commemoration of the Iraqi civilians who died as a result of the US-led invasion, printed in the lines of what appear to be your average, everyday legal pads.
Kenyon creates these projects through SWAMP, or Studies of Work Atmosphere and Mass Production. He teaches Art and Design at The University at Buffalo.
More TED news and ideas from Matt Kenyon
6 public art projects that make climate change up close and personal
October 19, 2020
The planet is in peril, and the time to act is now. Meet 8 TED Fellows who are spreading the message through their art.
Gallery: Art that makes you look at everything differently
October 27, 2016
Matt Kenyon’s art doesn’t just cast a sardonic eye on the systems around us; it also infiltrates and subverts them. He walks us through some of his projects.