Toby Kidd is a multidisciplinary artist interested in publics, and dialogue, and a graduate of the Royal College of Art Contemporary Arts Practice programme, where he specialised in the Public Sphere. His practice uses sound, sculpture, text, video, fiction, and performative events with the belief that art is an integral part of shaping the world.
He has shown/performed in countries all over the world including USA, Russia, Croatia, Italy, UK.
He is always interested in hearing about new projects and collaborations, please reach out and say hello.
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GROWING SCULPTURES FROM THE SOIL
2019-Ongoing
Sculpture; Sound; Video; Text;
Growing Sculptures from the Soil is an ongoing project developed during residencies at Bastioni Association (Florence) and Live Art Ireland.
Reading sections from Timothy Morton All Art Is Ecological, Thomas Nail Theory Of The Earth, and Fredric Jameson Archaeologies Of The Future, we developed thinking about co-existence, re-wilding, place and space. We saw the layers of fallen trees and undergrowth growing out of the destruction of the old, into hypercities of bugs and critters, birds and plant life. We have been particularly inspired by the idea that everything emits time, as well as the deep understanding of the existence of others. The work became involved in geological relations between the soil, human culture, and nature.
We performed the making by digging the mud material from the ditches, filtering through the cloth and hanging them on the trees; then tending the sculptures day by day until they were ripe. Plucking them from the trees and opening the cloth to reveal the mud shapes, the fire pit dried them into fragile, cracked artworks. We then transferred the sculptures into the screen so they can travel freely. Finally, we placed the remnants of the physical mud sculptures in the public space of Portumna Forest, where they will participate in the ongoing ecosystem dialogue, decomposing, feeding, being part of the ground.
~ Shown at Bastioni Association Florence solo exhibition; Milford House Ireland; Portumna Forest Ireland; Oxo Bargehouse London.
Reading sections from Timothy Morton All Art Is Ecological, Thomas Nail Theory Of The Earth, and Fredric Jameson Archaeologies Of The Future, we developed thinking about co-existence, re-wilding, place and space. We saw the layers of fallen trees and undergrowth growing out of the destruction of the old, into hypercities of bugs and critters, birds and plant life. We have been particularly inspired by the idea that everything emits time, as well as the deep understanding of the existence of others. The work became involved in geological relations between the soil, human culture, and nature.
We performed the making by digging the mud material from the ditches, filtering through the cloth and hanging them on the trees; then tending the sculptures day by day until they were ripe. Plucking them from the trees and opening the cloth to reveal the mud shapes, the fire pit dried them into fragile, cracked artworks. We then transferred the sculptures into the screen so they can travel freely. Finally, we placed the remnants of the physical mud sculptures in the public space of Portumna Forest, where they will participate in the ongoing ecosystem dialogue, decomposing, feeding, being part of the ground.
~ Shown at Bastioni Association Florence solo exhibition; Milford House Ireland; Portumna Forest Ireland; Oxo Bargehouse London.