Benjamin Knock is a multidisciplinary artist based in Australia and London, whose work bridges the technological present with the primordial past. Knock uses art to explore the hidden geological forces and energy that shape our world. His artistic practice incorporates fine art, large-scale murals, digital world-building, handblown glass, and sculptural installations. These are all deeply rooted in geology, seismic data, and fieldwork.
Knock presents a unique perspective whereby he transforms scientific data (seismic waves, LiDAR scans, and geophone recordings) into visual and auditory experiences, making the invisible forces of nature tangible. He also engages with eco-digital literacies, not just as aesthetic tools but as epistemological instruments that challenge how we perceive time, space, and environmental change, while harnessing surrealist techniques to evoke the emotional and philosophical dimensions of tectonic movement, volcanic activity, and glacial impermanence. Knock often incorporates the natural materials of landscapes such as Icelandic ice and water mixed into pigments. No matter what the form, Knock frames his was as a sensual experience. He invites audiences to multi-sensorily experience the planet’s transformations through sound, light, and texture – reconnecting human perception with planetary processes in transformative ways.
Knock has already visited the Ostrobothnia region in his study of the Kvarken area, and came back to visit while exhibition in the Butterfly: glo-cal effects of data, energy and industry exhibition during the Wasa Future Festival. He will conduct an artist residency at WIC from February to April, 2026. There you will encounter his geological surveying, artmaking and exhibition – all through cutting-edge technology. Knock will be available for interactions, giving invited talks and teaching at the University of Vaasa, during this time.
