Website

http://matthewslaats.com

Relationship status

married

College / University

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Program

Integrated Media

Graduation

15 December 2005

Member type

Artist

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?

Conceptual, Event, Installation, Performance, Photography, Sculpture, Video

I am...

A native of Wisconsin, Matthew Slaats completed his MFA and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005 and his BA in Archaeology from the University of Evansville in 1999. His artistic career has a vast array of interests focusing around interactivity, performance, installation, video, and sound. Work has been seen at the Kitchen and in collaboration with the Flux Factory in New York City, with recent shows in Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Richmond, and Chicago. In 2006 he traveled to Singapore, working with Artistic Director Ong Keng Sen on the production of 'Diaspora' for the Singapore Arts Festival. Other artists he has worked with include Meredith Monk, Matthew Buckingham and Richard Gough. Presently, he is developing an interactive visual history project with the community of Hyde Park, NY.

About my artwork

Placing the audience at the center of an artistic process is the focus of my work. This is not a passive experience, but one that actively involves both the artist and the audience in its development. As the artist, I play the role of a facilitator, editing and processing information that becomes the stimuli for those involved. This leaves the audience to explore and engage the work through their own efforts, creating an environment of meaningful interaction.

A project can begin with a question. "What would you like to change in your life?" or "What have you lost but never had?" Responses to these questions are collected, and then displayed, before being activated through a performance or action to place them in the public realm. Here meaning is collected and multiplied upon. One voice is added to another, giving the information a strength that resides in the collective spirit. The work moves beyond the individual and becomes a mass of perspective that transcends time and space.

Or my work can consist an event, which takes place at a very specific space, one with strong associations such as a sports stadium, a drive-in theater, or an old crumbling church. Upon entering that space, the audience encounters a variety of media (radio, performance, video, text), which is used to enhance their conception of the environment. My interest focuses on placing the audience in relationship to the space, subverting the social norms that are prescribed and augmenting their understanding through collected interviews, theories, statements, performances, and actions. The desire is to expand upon meaning and build a relationship to a space that moves beyond a typical experience.

What binds these projects is a concern with the context. How and when are questions asked? What about a specific space is missing or has been forgotten? The work is based on a belief that the meaning of an action or a space is not always understood, and that latent, unfulfilled power is yet to be found. My work energizes and activates these contexts through audience participation, providing a moment where meaning is realized and transferred forward in time.

Artists I like

Janet Cardiff
Mike Nelson
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Navin Rawanchaikul
Ong Keng Sen
Rachel Whiteread

Interests

Context, Community, Competition, Sport, Injuries, Questions, Interaction

What exhibitions are good at the moment?

Arte ≠ Vida, Cai Guo-Qiang

The centre of the artworld is

nowhere and everywhere