“Shot in collaboration with a college friend, this video tells the anthropomorphic tale of a tire’s life using intertitles, a technique typical of silent films. It covers the tire’s “birth” with its adoption by Thompson (an old tire found on Bruce R. Watkins Drive in Kansas City) to its “death” at a toxic waste recycling plant. The camera captures the moment the artist comes across the discarded tire and follows him as he proceeds to roll it across the Beaux Arts landscape surrounding the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to the art school where both Thompson and his collaborator were students at that time. The artist envisions the tire as a “pedestrian-sentient being” and engages with it in a philosophical dialogue about art, beauty, and life’s purpose during his walk.”

— Curator Nadja Rottner’s wall label text for Andy T’s Urban Vision