Dean Kenning
Dean Kenning is a London based artist and writer. He makes kinetic sculptures that suggest an idiotic vitalism and he also has a wide-ranging diagramming practice traversing art, theory and pedagogy. He is the winner of the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2020-21.
Solo exhibitions include Psychobotanical, Matt’s Gallery (2019); The Origin of Life, Beaconsfield (2019); Where IT Was, Piper Keys (2018). Recent collaborative projects include Diagram Research Group: Delta Research Placement, Flat Time House (2020); Social Morphology Research Unit: Morphologies of Invisible Agents, Space Studios (2019); Capital Drawing Group, Bergen Assembly (2019); Sick Monday, various venues (2018-19); DRUGG: Plague of Diagrams, ICA (2015).
Recent group exhibitions include The Soft Display, Paradise Works (2020); P is for Portrait, University of Worcester (2019), Guest, Ghost, Host: Machine, Serpentine Marathon (2017); EXO EMO, Greene Naftali (2017), Work Work, Tintype (2017); New & Recent Acquisitions, Grundy Art Gallery (2017).
praxis statement
I make kinetic and sound sculptures, videos and diagrams. My work is produced through hands-on material and process-based experimentation and in the spirit of DIY problem solving. I use materials like silicone and wax to suggest organs, skin and bodies, and I utilise motors and sensors and re-engineer obsolete technology to make things ‘come to life’. My aim is to engender visceral, uncanny and humorous encounters. I employ diagrams as a mode of autodidactic and allegorical exploration of philosophical and political material, and I have developed a range of diagrammatic techniques for use in educational contexts. I have often worked collaboratively e.g. with DRUGG (Diagram Research, Use & Generation Group) and the Capital Drawing Group. Solo exhibitions include Where IT Was (Piper Keys, 2018), The Origin of Life (Beaconsfield, 2019) and Psychobotanical (Matt’s Gallery, 2019). My writings have appeared in journals such as Third Text, Journal of Visual Art Practice and Art Monthly. I am a Research Fellow at Kingston University where I supervise fine art PhDs, and am also an associate lecturer at University of the Arts, London.
Currently I am developing crawling sculptures for a UK touring exhibition as part of the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award. I am writing on diagram theory, and am involved in diagram-based projects as part of the Diagram Research Group and the cross disciplinary Social Morphologies Research Unit. Finally, I am co-curating an exhibition of contemporary British sculpture on the theme of social class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NfSOBKLQK0&feature=emb_logo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptIBM0Qu6PI&feature=emb_logo