The Artist Pnoom

Artist Statement

I make audio-visual artworks for the internet and public display. This makes use of my broad skillset as a writer, visual artist, animator, musician, sound designer, installation artist and 3D designer.

What my work is

• I primarily make work using a computer.
• I capture images, movement and sound using cameras and microphones.
• I write words and play musical instruments.
• I make still images and moving images.
• I sculpt music and sound.
• I play with code, gameplay and interactivity.
• I make virtual spaces and objects.
• I combine these things in different ways into interactive, audio-visual artworks.

• My art is currently shown to the world primarily using screens and projectors.
• The viewer currently interacts with my work using touch-screens, mice, keyboards, joysticks, location or their body in a space.
• So far, I have made work for the internet, private exploration and gallery display.

Why I make work

• I make work that embraces the fresh creative spaces opened up by new technology.
• Research is key to my practice; research into place, people, culture and nature.
• I believe that the past informs the present and the future.
• I believe that people build strong emotional connections to stories about other people and other creatures.
• I believe that art, at is core, is a communication; therefore any audience should understand good art, as it is good communication.
• My artistic concerns are climate chaos, inequality and what it feels like to be human.
• I believe that an artist’s job is to make work in response to the world that will move the viewer into seeing or experiencing the world in a different way.
• I react badly to artworks called ‘untitled’.

Current work

Market Cycles

2026 - Working as an associate artist with Norwich based community theatre company, The Common Lot, I made a series of animated gifs about Norwich Market.

This was part of a wider project called 'On the Huh!' about 900 years of Norwich Market which culminates in a week of theatre performances in Norwich city centre in July 2026, alongside an accompanying exhibition. As well as making artworks, I also co-wrote the theatre show and will be performing in it as part of the band. Click here to see Market Cycles.

In Harmony - © T.A. Pnoom 2026

Phenakistoscope experiments

2022 - ongoing

Phenakistoscopes were an early form of animation from the mid 1800s. I am constantly playing with the form. I take great pleasure in the idea that this early type of looped animation has a direct digital paralell in the animated gifs file format. The restrictions of the short loop, with limited frames means that compositions are more like visual haiku. There is no room for excess, every movement has to be considered.

Chained - © T.A. Pnoom 2023

Music

Artist C.V.

Name: Pnoom - also known as Simon Byford
Lives and works: Norwich, UK
Email: simonb@uglystudios.com

Education

1998 - Dartington College of Arts, Totnes, Devon.
Qualification - First Class BA Honours Degree
in Performance Writing and Arts Management

Exhibitions

2026 – Group exhibition. Market Cycles. As part of Oh the Huh!. Norwich Market, Norwich, UK.

2002 – Group exhibition. Love Story. As part of Future Physical. Various locations, UK.

2001 – Group exhibition. Nativity of the Beasts. Working as part of Welfare State International, Ulverston, Cumbria, UK

2000 – Solo exhibition. Northern Soles. Lancaster Arts and Events, Morecambe Promenade, Morecambe, Lancashire, UK

2000 – Group exhibition. Darkmoor, Anibition and Electric Sand, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Urban Futures 2000 International Conference. Collaboration with Nicholas Watton.

1999 – Group exhibition. Darkmoor, Cornell University, New York, USA, then touring, as part of Contact Zones: the art of CD ROM. Collaboration with Nicholas Watton.

1999 – Two-person exhibition. Darkmoor, Dartmoor Gallery, Devon, UK. Collaboration with Nicholas Watton.

1997 - Two-person exhibition. Anibition, In cyber cafes (when they were a thing) simultaneously on three continents. Collaboration with Nicholas Watton.

1996 – Group exhibition. The Three Authors, ICA, London, UK. As part of Young Exhibitionists. Collaboration with Peter J. Evans and Christie Fuller.

Commissions

2005 - Commissioned by Welfare State International, Ulverston, Cumbria.
Title – Bay Tales – web-based, interactive art piece.

2005 – Commissioned by Signals Media Arts, Colchester, Essex.
Title - Home – A computer game art piece distributed to families of disabled children in residential care in Essex and installed on computers in three residential care homes.

2004 - Commissioned by Pirate Utopia, Norwich, UK.
Title - Inside the Head of Doctor Felix Schaad – web-based, interactive, computer game, art piece produced to go alongside a theatre production of Bluebeard.

2003 - Commissioned by Pirate Utopia, Norwich, UK.
Title – Duncan Kong – web-based, interactive, computer game, art piece produced to go alongside a theatre production of Macbeth.

2002 – Commissioned by Future Physical, London, UK.
Title – Love Story – web-based, interactive art piece released as episodes, building into a final piece.

2002 – Commissioned by Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich, UK.
Title – Riverside – web-based, interactive art piece.

1999 – Commissioned by Welfare State International, John Fox Bursaries.
Title - Electric Sand – web-based, interactive art piece.

1998 – Commissioned by var.org, an online arts magazine in collaboration with Nicholas Watton. Title - 5 Story Building – web-based, interactive art piece.

Residencies

2005 – Choices - Commissioned by Signals Media Arts, Colchester, Essex.
A month-long residency based in two residential care homes for disabled children. I ran workshops with the children and produced a piece of artwork based on my experiences.

Publications

1999 - Darkmoor and Five Story Building included on the CD ROM 'Gravitational Intrigue an anthology of emergent hypermedia', The Little Magazine, University of Albany, New York, USA.

Music Releases

2024 – Phytomining album as T. A. Pnoom – all songs – words and music – written, recorded and released in November 2024 as part of the One Month Album project.

2023 – Tissue Paper Crown single as The Artist Pnoom

2023 – Tudor Prince Theory album as The Artist Pnoom – all songs – words and music – written, recorded and released in July 2023 as part of the One Month Album project.

1992 – Dust E.P. as part of Present from Margate

1992 - Lying Through Your Face E.P as part of Present from Margate – received national airplay

Professional Organisations

• Museum and Heritage Association – Corporate membership as part of Ugly Studios
• Artist Now Member – As an individual artist

Software

• Adobe After Effects – highly competent
• Adobe Animate – highly competent
• Adobe Premier Pro – highly competent
• Adobe Photoshop – highly competent
• Adobe Illustrator – highly competent
• Sketchup and Layout – highly competent
• Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook – highly competent
• Apple Logic Pro – highly competent
• Audacity – competent
• Steinberg Cubase – competent
• Adobe InDesign – competent
• Adobe Acrobat – competent
• Adobe Dreamweaver – competent
• Adobe Character Animator -– basic skills
• Google Docs, Sheets, and Maps – basic skills
• Unity – Basic skills
• Blender – Basic skills

Coding and mark-up languages

• HTML - highly competent
• CSS - highly competent
• JavaScript - can copy, paste, amend and repurpose
• GSAP - can copy, paste, amend and repurpose
• ActionScript - can copy, paste, amend and repurpose

Hardware

• Smart phones – highly competent
• Computers – highly competent
• Microphones – highly competent
• Field recorders – highly competent
• Digital stills and video cameras – competent
• Lighting for location shoots and performance – competent
• Mixing desks for recording and for live sound – competent

Operating systems

• Mac – highly competent
• PC – highly competent
• IOS – highly competent
• Android – basic skills

Musical Instruments

• Guitar – highly competent
• Rhythm programming – highly competent
• Ukulele - highly competent
• Vocals and backing vocals – competent
• Bass – competent
• Keyboards and synthesisers – competent
• Percussion – competent
• Banjo – basic skills
• Drum kit – basic skills