Ben Gould is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York, NY.

Gould’s practice is directed by changing states of health and disability, and builds meaning through a reckoning of an unstable body. He is concerned with care in its many forms - methods of support, those that give and those that receive, and care as an almanac for construction, material ecology and transformation. After a sudden diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome and the recent development of thyroid cancer, Gould’s practice has been guided towards a deep investment in the body - exploring energy systems within and outside of our physiology. With the body as a source, his work is driven by his neurological condition, providing a choreographic motor and idealogical framework for projects ranging from site-specific performances to sculpture and film. Gould’s interdisciplinary practice involves hyper-specific modes of physical training and material research informed by experimentation and discovery. He is concerned with how energy is directed, rerouted, and transferred across our anatomy, geology, and built world. In the studio or onsite, processes and performance environments are tethered by modes of production and shared material origins, ranging from electro-forming and blacksmithing to power plants and quarries.  Within a growing mythos shaped through personal medical procedures, the history of disability treatment, and the embodiment of new narratives constructed through making, a space for fantasy and freedom is created -  opposing the rigidity of physical limitation and societal norm. Each work is powered by a search for understanding and growth, finding ways of giving form to the idiosyncrasies of his raw being and unearthing meaning from ongoing collaboration with others, material, and the environment.

Gould has performed site-specific works throughout the country, from varied landscapes to institutional spaces – leading to solo gallery exhibitions, performances at museums and cultural centers, and extensive collaborations across disciplines. He has performed and coordinated projects at unique sites such as an active hyroelectric powerplant in New York state, a limestone cave in Kansas City, and a moving vessel on the Chicago River. Gould received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2015, and was a 2015 Ox-Bow Fellow. He was an artist-in-residence at Kickstarter’s Headquarters in 2017 and at Queenslab in New York City in 2018. He is a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant recipient, was a Haystack Open Studio Resident in 2019, a 2020 Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant recipient, a 2021 NYFA Fellow in Interdisciplinary Work, and a 2026 Arts/Industry resident with the John Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) and Kohler Co.

Born in Grass Valley, California in 1993, Gould was raised in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains in a Gold Rush era town, between decommissioned mines and the Yuba River – the geography of which has greatly informed his commitment to site specific projects and reinforced the importance of place. His work has been presented by Palais de Tokyo,KANAL Centre Pompidou, Bozar, The Center for Craft, Lyles & King, Human Resources, The Chicago Cultural Center, The Dallas Contemporary, Wave Hill, and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center among others. 



• To contact, please email at bengouldstudio@gmail.com