Matt Kenyon

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 oftentimes working with living organisms.

Matt Kenyon is a new media artist and designer. Kenyon’s 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, and part of PLATFORM, UB’s socially engaged design studio.

Oracle

Oracle is an interactive artwork that centers on talking flame emanating from a burning tire. 

This installation uses the spectacle of a tire in flames as a conduit for dialogue about human relationships to environmental crises. One by one, visitors approach the tire with their questions about climate change, and the tire-fire talks with them. 

The unseen system in place is dialogue and engagement that flow between the oracle and a visitor. The Oracle speaks with a human-like voice, yet lacks any physical characteristics or social cues typically associated with humans. As a result, visitors must navigate a new social dynamic when engaging in conversation with this non-human entity. 

One question we kept returning to was: What would a conversation concerning climate change sound like between a human and an object crafted of deep time?

Link to the artwork
https://www.swamp.nu/oracle