As an artist Matthew is interested in the idea of the flaneur. A flaneur being someone who experiences an environment by walking through it, in order to understand it. He is also interested in the parallel idea of the fugue, which is a state of psychological breakdown accompanied by loss of identity and long periods of seemingly aimless wandering. People who undergo dissociative fugues have been known to travel many hundred of miles, suddenly becoming aware of what has happened but having no explanation of how they got to where they are.
He views walking as a critical process. ‘When you walk, you think. Your thoughts are led by what you see and you reflect upon your environment. To walk in a post-industrial environment is to begin to understand the history of such an area on a human scale. To exist as an individual in a post-industrial landscape is a way of challenging that environment and its inevitably de-humanising nature.’
Matthew works predominantly with sound, whether video, performance or installation, his works are often led by the sound, particularly spoken narration. This narration is then underpinned by soundscapes made from his recordings.
Matthew has previously undertaken residencies at the Royal Standard in Liverpool, and the Lombard Method in Birmingham, both in 2010. During these residencies Matthew focused on the post-industrial landscapes of each city and made work that dealt with the micro-histories that exist in such environments.
Liverpool Fugue - A lecture with slide-show given on the opening night of The Festival, a solo exhibition at The Royal Standard in Liverpool
This is Not a Public Right of Way - A video made as part of a residency at The Lombard Method in Birmingham, in Summer 2010.
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