Kenneth Tam is an interdisciplinary artist who works across video, sculpture, installation, performance and photography. Tam's work examines themes including the performance of masculinity, the transformative potential of ritual and expressions of intimacy within groups. Tam is the recipient of a NYSCA Grant in 2023; NYFA Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Work in 2021, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant in 2016, 2019 and 2022; California Community Foundation Fellowship in 2015; and an Art Matters Foundation Grant in 2013.

His video installation Silent Spikes premiered at Queens Museum, NY in 2021, and has since been presented at a number of institutions across the US.

Tam has held solo exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, TX; MOCA Tucson, AZ; ICA LA, CA; Times Square Arts, NY; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI; Queens Museum, NY; The Kitchen, NY; Visual Arts Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; and MIT List Center for Visual Arts, MA. He has participated in group exhibitions at The Shed, NY; SculptureCenter, NY; the Hammer Museum, CA; and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX

His work is held in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The Dallas Museum of Art and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Tam received his BFA from The Cooper Union in 2004. Prior to teaching at Rice, he has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, Princeton University and Harvard University. Tam is also faculty at the Milton Avery Graduate School of Arts at Bard College, teaching in the discipline of Film/Video.

Photo by Christian Carroll