Kyla Kegler

Kyla Kegler (B.1985) explores themes of fantasy, relationship, pleasure, and purpose through painting, sculpture, performance, and film. Her films and performances often choreograph groups engaged in tasks that blend emotional and physical labor.

Kegler’s practice is informed by her work with Bread and Puppet Theater (Vermont) and her role as co-founder of the underground theater Zuhause (Berlin). She holds an MA in Solo/Dance/Authorship from the Art University of Berlin and an MFA in Studio Art from the University at Buffalo.

Her past projects include Feel Me, a multi-modal investigation of the mindfulness industry exhibited at Box Gallery, Canisius College, and Big Orbit; The House on Fire Show, a teen web-drama about the climate crisis screened at the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art; Mountains, a puppet soap opera performed at Artpark, Torn Space Theater, and Undercurrent Gallery (Brooklyn); The Frontier, a performance about cults and community; and R.d.f.t.c. (Relationships don’t finish, they change), an installation of video and sculpture exhibited at the Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College, NY (2024).

Her current project, The Accumulation of Meaning Over Time (All Parts Sold Separately), funded by the UB Humanities Communities of Care Grant, includes a film, ceramic objects, and paintings. It explores early life influences—such as Mattel toy commercials—on world-building as utopian fantasy and a strategy for control amid unmanageable chaos.

SELECT Exhibitions

  • Relationships don’t finish, they change, Handweker Gallery, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, 2024

  • The Frontier, Agathas, Buffalo, NY, 2023

  • Mountains Dumbo, Undercurrent Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2022

  • Mountains 2, Torn Space Theatre, Buffalo, NY, 2022

  • Incident Report, Hudson, NY, 2022

Selected Residencies & Awards

  • Squeaky Wheel Workspace residency, Buffalo, NY, 2025

  • Generator Fund: Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 2024

  • Chashama Foundation, Agatha Falls, 2023

  • Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund: New York State Edition, Dance NYC, 2022