Multidisciplinary, spoken-word artist Landry Butler will debut a new performance piece on the theme of Utopias at the 2026 Kindling Arts Festival, July 23 – 26 in Nashville, Tenn.
Butler is a multidisciplinary American artist whose work spans visual art, spoken word, and music, drawing favorable comparisons to Jandek, Laurie Anderson, Dr. Eugene Chadbourne, and They Might Be Giants. Deeply influenced by the existential and avant-garde philosophies of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Cage, and Mark Rothko, Butler’s genre-defying creations explore themes of transformation, personal growth, and self-actualization within a society steeped in alienation, fear, and consumerism.
As a founding member and master wordsmith of the underground art music collective Inglewood Social Club, Butler has been at the forefront of innovative art music. Their 2025 performances at OZ Arts Nashville featured the band performing a live soundtrack to a large-scale projected supercut composed by Butler using visually arresting black-and-white images from archival, original and stock sources.
In 2024, Butler received the prestigious Tanne Foundation Award, recognizing his impactful contributions to multidisciplinary art. I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It marked Butler’s return to publishing, his first book since 2010’s Fire Walk, a compelling collection of photographs and poetry.
In addition to his literary and musical pursuits, Butler has showcased his acting talents, portraying Londin Hyatt in FIX, Nashville’s Original Rehab Rock Opera and Dr. Abraham Prince in the award-winning film FOGG: Diary of a Sociopath.
About the Kindling Arts Festival:
Kindling Arts supports experimental artists working in contemporary forms that challenge the limitations of conventional art and performance, providing audiences with exceptional experiences made possible through singular and often unclassifiable collaborations.
Kindling Arts Festival 2026 invites one to explore the theme of Utopias: an invitation to imagine what’s possible if we let ourselves dream beyond the limits of what is. We ask, “What does it mean to create in the direction of a world that isn’t here yet? How might artists model systems of belonging, justice, and joy that stretch our shared sense of what’s possible?” Together, we can make something better, not someday, but here and now.
Contact:
The Administrator
info@landrybutler.com
