Published March 27, 2026

Medina Triennial announces newly commissioned work by Art Professor Kenyon

Associate Professor of Art and Technology Matt Kenyon will create The TELL (2026), a sculptural installation that reimagines a champagne tower using glass, Medina sandstone, and roses of Jericho, plants that can revive with just a drop of water, to be presented summer 2026 at the Medina Triennial.

Zoom image: birds eye view of forests and farmlands bordering a canal, with "Medina Triennial 2026" overlaid in white text birds eye view of forests and farmlands bordering a canal, with "Medina Triennial 2026" overlaid in white text.

Announcement from the Medina Triennial:

We are honored to announce that Buffalo-based artist Matt Kenyon (@mattckenyon) will produce a newly commissioned work for the 2026 Medina Triennial. Kenyon works across sculpture, custom software, electronics, and experimental materials to make hidden systems visible and tangible. His recent projects employ atmospheric water generation and hydrophobic treatments applied to stone and glass, using condensation, evaporation, and repulsion as expressive tools to examine the invisible forces that shape contemporary life.

For the Medina Triennial, Kenyon will create The TELL (2026), a sculptural installation that reimagines a champagne tower using glass, Medina sandstone, and roses of Jericho, plants that can revive with just a drop of water.

Kenyon has exhibited internationally at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Museum of Modern Art New York, Science Gallery Dublin, and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. He is a TED Fellow and a MacDowell Fellow.

More about The TELL:

The TELL will include a custom Atmospheric Water Generator suspended above the tower pulls moisture from the air and releases it unpredictably, creating a fragile system where renewal happens only rarely. The TELL connects Western New York’s industrial history, environmental precarity, and ideas of resilience-- a large-scale sculptural installation that combines art, science, geology, and living systems.

Headshot of a bearded man wearing dark blue framed glasses and a light blue shirt.

Artist website: swamp.nu

A tower of champagne glasses on a scaffolding platform a couple feet off the ground, with a currency vending machine and mechanical arms.

Matt Kenyon, "Giant Pool of Money," 2016 

About the Medina Triennial:

The Medina Triennial is a new contemporary art triennial—rooted in place, shaped by community, resonant with global ideas, and free for all.

As the first initiative of its kind in the region, the inaugural Medina Triennial will bring together 35 artists and collectives from across the globe from June 6 to September 7, 2026, to realize a town-wide exhibition and public programs that are both expansive in scale and grounded in the local context.

More info: medinatriennial.org