Photo: Yandel Walton
Kenneth Craig Lambert
b. in //Hui !Gaeb 'Where the clouds gather' (Cape Town, South Africa
Lives and works on Wangal & Gadigal Peoples Country, Australia
Artist Statement
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Kenneth Lambert’s experimental practice investigates disintegrated matter, algorithmic systems, and the fractures that define contemporary existence. He transposes technological processes into sonic and visual forms, probing climate acceleration, algorithmic violence, and displacement through data visualisation, sound, and expanded drawing. Working across digital media, film, painting, installation, and performance, Lambert positions art as a means of making systemic forces perceptible, where abstraction holds both political and poetic weight.
With a foundation in museum design and film production, Lambert brings a technical and conceptual breadth to his practice. Since 2016, he has exhibited widely across Australia, Europe, and the United States, with presentations at institutions such as the Edge X Biennale of Sydney and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His 2024 commission, Without a Trace, a durational performance exploring creation, erasure, and robotic control, exemplifies his capacity to entwine material experimentation with conceptual rigour.
Lambert has been recognised as a finalist in major prizes including the Churchie Emerging Artist Prize, the Alice Prize, the Dobell Drawing Prize, the Incinerator Gallery Prize for Art and Social Change, the Fisher’s Ghost Prize, the Kilgour Art Prize, and the Mosman Art Prize. Residencies with Amnesty International Australia and Bundanon on Dharawal Country have been formative, supporting the development of Stasis and Augmented Intervals. These works extend his inquiry into displacement, memory, and the structural conditions that hold the human condition under strain.
Artist Biography
Kenneth Lambert is a contemporary artist whose practice draws on his early life in Cape Town and Western Sydney, where he migrated at the age of ten. With a background in museum design, filmmaking, and communication, his conceptually driven work operates at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and technology. He employs data and scientific methodologies to generate works across physical and digital formats, realised as large-scale installations, time-based media, and durational performances.
Lambert's early career included spatial and exhibition design with institutions such as The Earth Exchange in Sydney and the Museum of Creativity in Santa Monica. In 2000, he co-founded Ink, a creative company specialising in broadcast branding, where he developed media identities including SBS Studio and Foxtel Arts, producing over 100 brands across twelve countries. In 2008, he founded Sheepish Lion, a film and content studio specialising in storytelling and screen-based media. His commercial and artistic work has earned numerous awards and been featured in international creative journals and exhibitions.
Since 2016, Lambert has exhibited widely across Australia, Europe, and the United States. His work has appeared in Australian ARIs and commercial galleries, including Artereal and Galerie pompom. In 2023, he developed Stasis, a multi-channel immersive installation in collaboration with STARTTS, supported by UNHCR and Amnesty International. Presented at Verge Gallery, the project explored displaced narratives through data portraiture, centring the experiences of young people seeking asylum in Australia. Stasis was supported by Creative Australia and Create NSW, and was featured on SBS News during the Australian visit of Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. The project was accompanied by Open Circle, a public program featuring performances, discussions, and community reflections.
In 2024, Lambert was commissioned by the Edge X Biennale of Sydney to create "Without a Trace," a live performance that explores gesture, erasure, and robotic control. The work was later presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of the Lumen Prize Showcase. He is currently developing Maximum Limit, an immersive installation that translates meteorological data into light and sound environments. The project is being developed through a research residency at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, with plans for its premiere at Ars Electronica in 2026, curated by Experimenta.
Lambert was the first artist-in-residence with Amnesty International Australia and has undertaken residencies at Bundanon, Arteles in Finland, and the National Trust of Australia. Working at Creative Australia, he has also contributed to national policy through peer assessment and advisory roles. These include serving on the AI Ethics Advisory Panel and advising on experimental arts funding and strategic support for emerging interdisciplinary practices. He has been a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the Churchie Emerging Artist Prize, the Dobell Drawing Prize, the Alice Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, and the Kilgour Art Prize.
He currently teaches experimental media at the University of Technology Sydney and previously taught experimental drawing at the National Art School. There, he devised a course exploring expanded drawing and embodiment through the forces of gravity, which culminated in 32 Bodies in Motion, a collaborative performance work developed with students from NIDA and NAS. Lambert is a current PhD candidate at UTS, where his research examines computational bias, abstraction, and forms of resistance through immersive cinema and experimental systems.
Artist CV
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Education
1991 - University of Western Sydney - Bachelor of Arts & Design
2025-2028 - Phd Candidate - University of Technology Sydney
Selected Solo Shows & Performances
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2025 - Without A Trace, OpenField Arts Festival, Berry, NSW, Australia
2024 - Without A Trace, Edge X Biennale of Sydney, NSW, Australia
2023 - Stasis, Verge Gallery, NSW, Australia
2022 - How Can You Sleep?, Old Government House, Burramatta, NSW
2021 - Geomorphic Abstractions, Woodford Academy, Blue Mountains
2020 - Incandescent Bloom, Artereal Gallery, Rozelle, Australia
2019 - Data Blue, Galerie Pompom, Chippendale, Australia
2018 - Debris, Wellington St. Projects, Chippendale, Australia
2018 - De-Interlaced, Articulate, Leichhardt, Australia
2016 - Primitive Shadows, Stack Projects Gallery, Australia
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Selected Group Shows
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2025 - Stasis, Horizons Arts Festival, Curated by Experimenta
2024 - Lumen Prize Showcase, Digital Design Weekend, V&A, London, UK
2024 - ISEA Conference: Stasis, State Library, Queensland, Australia
2024 - Fooled Enough with Numbers, Stanley Street Gallery, NSW, Australia
2023 - Draw, Adrift, Group Show, Articulate, Leichhardt, Australia
2022 - Portraiture, Pamela Walsh Gallery, Palo Alto, California, USA
2022 - Carnival Catastrophe, Cementa22, Kandos NSW, Australia
2020 - Solo - The Group Show, Articulate, Leichhardt, Australia
2019 - Art for Social Change, Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2019 - Modify Prospect, COMA Gallery, Darlinghurst, Australia
2018 - Churchie Emerging Artist Prize, QUT, Brisbane, Australia
2018 - 40th Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
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Residencies
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2023 - Bundanon Artist Residency, Dhurawal Country, South Coast NSW
2022 - Amnesty International, Self-Directed Residency, Sydney, Australia
2022 - Old Government House, Burramatta, NSW, Australia
2021 - Woodford Academy, National Trust Property, Blue Mountains
2019 - Arteles, Haukijärvi, Finland
2018 - Newington Armoury: Artist in Residence, Sydney Olympic Park
Selected Artist Talks & Panels
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2025 - Re:Place, Artist Panel Discussion, Openfield, Berry, NSW
2024 - (Bodies) In Motion, Expanded Drawing Practices, NAS, Sydney
2024 - Humanising Data, Stasis Art Project, ISEA Conference, Brisbane
2023 - Dobell Drawing Prize, Expanded Drawing Panel Talk, NAS
2023 - Open Circle & Synthetic Discord - Stasis Program - Verge Gallery
2022 - Amnesty International Australia Arts Program
2022 - Residue, Cementa22
2021 - Artist in Residence, Woodford Academy, Blue Mountains
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Selected Awards & Grants
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2024 - Lumen Prize, Art & Technology, Immersive Art Prize,
United Kingdom - Finalist
2023 - Cullen’s Conceptual Photography Art Prize, Muswellbrook, Regional Gallery, NSW -Finalist
2023 - Lumen Prize, Art & Technology, United Kingdom - Finalist
2023 - Dobell Drawing Prize, Australia - Finalist
2022 - Mosman Art Prize, NSW, Australia - Finalist
2022 - Lumen Prize, Art & Technology, United Kingdom - Finalist
2022 - Environmental Art & Design Prize, Manly Gallery, Australia - Finalist
2022 - Creative Australia - Individual Project Funding - Stasis
2022 - Create NSW - Individual Project Funding - Stasis
2021 - Lumen Prize, Art & Technology, United Kingdom - Finalist
2020 - Fishers Ghost Prize, Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW, Australia
2019 - Blacktown City Art Prize, Western Sydney, Australia - Finalist
2020 - Kilgour Art Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery, Australia - Finalist
2019 - Art for Social Change, Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2018 - Churchie QUT, Emerging Artist Prize, Brisbane, Australia - Finalist
2018 - Newington Armoury Award: Artist in Residence, Winner
2018 - Hidden Sculpture walk - Rookwood, Western Sydney-HC
2018 - Hurford Portrait Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery, Australia - Finalist
2018 - 40th Alice Prize, Group Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Australia- Finalist
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Teaching & Arts Advisory Boards
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2025 - Sessional Lecturer, UTS - Experimental Media Arts
2024 - Sessional Lecturer, National Art School - Experimental Drawing
2025 - Peer Assessor, Creative Australia, Experimental & Emerging Art Forms
2024 - AI Ethics Advisory Panel, Creative Australia
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Selected Press + Publications
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2024 - East Side Radio - Arts Friday, 09 February, 2024
2023 - SBS News - 24 April 2023
2023 - Transitions - Issue #37 Feature Article
2023 - Making Your Mark, by Dr Marryane Coutts, Dobell Drawing Prize
2022 - Insights of an Ecco Artist Magazine, Cover & Feature Article, #1
2022 - Artist to Watch, Art Connector
2020 - Undiscovered, Art Collector Issue #92, Australia
2020 - The Shortlist, Sydney Morning Herald Review, Australia