Mat - Interviewed by Raluca

Mat interviewed by Raluca

R - Mat. I am very pleased to have you here. I would like first to talk a bit about your practice, as I consider it relevant for the project you will be doing at N.C.A.C.

M – I graduated from my BA in 2003 from an art school called the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Surrey in the UK, just on the outskirts of London and whilst there I forged a collaborative practice with artist Ross Jardine under ‘Matt & Ross’ as a duo for 9 years, making performance videos and also project based relational work. Once the collaboration finished I then followed on those more project based works as a solo artist, the outcomes were film based works but always working within relational context, working within communities of certain descriptions and involved developing new constituencies. And then in the last, say the last 18 months I have returned to the studio. I think I got to a certain point and I felt like I needed to return to the object. This is the first show that I have done since I moved into this new phase…

R – That's great! Could you give some details about it for our readers?

M – It's a new work commissioned for this exhibition, an interchangeable sculpture which can be displayed in a variation of different locations. The sculpture is floor-based, made up of three individual parts that, when put together, make up the same piece.

R - And have you already decided where you will have the three pieces displayed?

M - It will be arranged in three different scenarios/ arrangements/ constellations. In this sense, I am going to not just use the main exhibition space, the gallery space of the institute, I am also going to use two alternative, more communal spaces…

R – Such as?

M – One is going to be the reception café area of the institute, the second is going to be the cinema and the third will be the gallery.

R – Will the work be interacting with this non-artistic spaces?

M – Yes. The sculpture is going to be on rotation between those three separate places. Everyday, the gallery staff are going to relocate the work to each space. So the work will be in the space for that one day and the next day it changes, and the next day it changes, and then on the fourth day it goes back to where it was on the first day – so its on rotation…And with each individual location the sculpture is orientated differently – it’s actually physically moved into a different position.

R – That’s an interesting point in relation to your practice. Correct me if I am wrong, but until now you haven’t focused so much on creating interactive scultural pieces – why this change in your practice?

M – Well, up to quite recently I have been working on more project based stuff and films that normally required a longer gestation period and predominately involved a more social context. This has been more... I suppose more of a reaction to that so…I see this as a completely different approach to making, something that I have never done before.

R – So when you mention making, do you see it in relation to crafting maybe in a way?

M – Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think it’s about an interplay between all those things - in some ways its more of a traditional approach of making work. Then I suppose within the action of its display and allowing the sculpture to perform…

R – So it’s going to be a performative sculpture? As you are not going to be present in the space, I guess the performative function changes from you as the performer to the sculpture.

M – I see you’ve done your research. I suppose it is an open invitation to the audience to engage with the work. At the same time, I am going to instruct the gallery staff to physically move the artwork and orientate it and display it the way I want them to do, so it’s kind of a perpetual loop but still in a state of flux.

R – Talking about craft, could you describe the process of making the artwork?

M – Yes, so the process has been quite laborious. The sculpture looks like a smiley face form - a cultural readymade, a pop cultural reference.

R – That everybody knows?

M – To a certain extent, yeah. Some people would recognise it instantly, some would resonate with it later, some maybe won't recognise it at all. But I like that precariousness of recognition of the actual form. The actual sculpture has been created through a series of processes.

R - Can you please expand on that?

M - So there’s an initial one – very much a digital process – which involved taking the image and digitising it using a 3D program. Then it came the milling on a CNC milling bed out of wooden formers, then those wooden formers were physically complied and assembled by me and then I wrapped it by hand in a water hyacinth rope sourced from Indonesia…But I suppose ultimately it stands at the intersection of sculpture and furniture.

R – Sculpture and furniture, but also maybe technology and tradition?

M – I think that’s incredibly relevant.

R – So are you shifting your interest to this use of technology in a more traditional sense?

M – This is something I wasn’t necessarily initially that aware of, but as the processes moved on, and the work evolved physically in the studio, that tension between traditional craft and emerging technologies - 3D modelling, CNC milling or 3D printing, scanning and all that kind of stuff – they are all relatively new technologies still in their infancy – it's definitely something worth considering.

R – As the audience are going to experience the work in it's final state, but also in a fluid state, because of its shifting, do you think they will perceive it?

M – Who knows what happens in these spaces on a daily basis, different types of people frequent them, different actions happen around them, so… sometimes it could get really busy and sometimes they could be empty. In terms of the non-gallery spaces – the cinema, the café, the reception area - the lines between its function and its form kind of get blurred. One minute it could be obstructing, arresting the space and the next minute it can blend into the background and become part of the furniture. It is an art object, it is a sculpture, but it's also playing on its duality.

R – Duality as a sculpture and a piece of furniture?

M – Yeah and also with it being crafted to the point where it could almost exist in domestic setting; an artwork but also something you could just buy and have in your home.

R – There’s going to be a constant change of roles and functionalities between them. I was also wondering whether you plan to leave the sculptures there when the show finishes?

M – Maybe, if the Institute decides to buy it… At the same time, I am quite into the idea of seeing what it does in different spaces, these non-spaces, these anti-spaces – the communal, pre-portal before the big show.

R - I completely understand. Thank you very much once again!

M - Thank you!