KMA is the collaboration of two pioneering artists, Tom Wexler and Kit Monkman. KMA's highly original interactive work stems from a joint interest in the physical patterns of social behavior and in the use of digital technology as a vehicle for public theatre. They have presented their interactive works involving public participation for various cities, public institutions and art festivals at places such as the Trafalgar Square and the Royal Opera House in London. KMA has also collaborated with many video artists and dance groups such as DV8. Their work has been described as “Staggeringly inventive! ” by the Daily Telegraph.
“The idea of communities gathering after dark to enact or watch a drama or ritual lies so deep within us and our ancestral history it’s surely one of the oldest and most essential of human responses to our shared fate. The mutual empathic response to participating in this way is a powerful feeling. It’s not generated by allegiance, or ideology, but simply a common response to the moment. It’s strong, it’s simple - it’s a primitive feeling - and one that summons a sense of connectedness and belonging between strangers across cultural and linguistic barriers. So much of our culture and so much online technology is tied directly to language and we communicate very rarely with our bodies, particularly in public space.
It’s fascinating how a very ancient human instinct to engage with others in public spaces can be enabled in an empathic, ego-less way by very new technology. This coming together of the very ancient and the very new; the very technological, and the very human is at the heart of our excitement with the work.”
— Kit Monkman and Tom Wexler, KMA
