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 and staring a mobile gaming project in Poughkeepsie, NY.
BIO
Freespace
Deadline:
Sat Jan 01, 2011 00:00
Freespace is an exploration of the relationships built between people and place, may they be urban, suburban or rural. It looks to inhabit the everyday space, the space that once was, and space that is constantly in between. The objective being to develop a network of sites, through partnerships with individuals and communities, to elucidate experiences of ownership, privacy, sustainability, and identity.
The concept for Freespace came while sitting at the summer home of the Vanderbilt Family in Hyde Park, NY, now a part of the National Park System. It harkens back to a landed gentry, an upper crust, that most will never see or experience. In its marble floors, how does this space represented the United States? Even more specifically how does it represent my own experience? Where is the National Park site of the every day person? The ranch home or the suburban neighborhood come to mind. What about spaces of decay? Empty lots are spattered across any Northeastern city. Going further, might we think of something more intimate, more private? Could a park consist of a favorite chair, the inside of someone’s clothes, or maybe the space between your fingers?
In scientific terms Freespace is defined in multiple ways. It is a concept of electromagnetic theory, corresponding to a theorectically perfect vacuum. It is an abstraction from nature, a baseline or reference state, that is unattainable in practice. It is a space where the movement of energy in any direction is substantially unimpeded, such as the atmosphere, the ocean, or the earth. (1) In all of these definitions we are looking for a space that is impermeable in a physical sense, but conceptually holds a significant standard.
Freespace asks the public to seek these spaces, defining them from their own perspective. They may be conceptual, textual, or physical; and range in size from micro to macro. The project looks to engage the range of associations/relationships that people have with space, building a collection of unique environments that take on meaning by the fact that they are described, located and catalogued. In the end what will be defined is a breadth of perspective that shows the vitality of peoples connection to space.
Words of interest are loss, preservation, woodland, boundary, geography, cultural geography, psycho-geography,middle landscape, sub-urban, urban, rural, forgotten, decay, disused, watershed, lot, parcel, lunch poems, walking, listening, and revitalization.
To get involved got to the website - http://freespace.matthewslaats.com/projects/
The concept for Freespace came while sitting at the summer home of the Vanderbilt Family in Hyde Park, NY, now a part of the National Park System. It harkens back to a landed gentry, an upper crust, that most will never see or experience. In its marble floors, how does this space represented the United States? Even more specifically how does it represent my own experience? Where is the National Park site of the every day person? The ranch home or the suburban neighborhood come to mind. What about spaces of decay? Empty lots are spattered across any Northeastern city. Going further, might we think of something more intimate, more private? Could a park consist of a favorite chair, the inside of someone’s clothes, or maybe the space between your fingers?
In scientific terms Freespace is defined in multiple ways. It is a concept of electromagnetic theory, corresponding to a theorectically perfect vacuum. It is an abstraction from nature, a baseline or reference state, that is unattainable in practice. It is a space where the movement of energy in any direction is substantially unimpeded, such as the atmosphere, the ocean, or the earth. (1) In all of these definitions we are looking for a space that is impermeable in a physical sense, but conceptually holds a significant standard.
Freespace asks the public to seek these spaces, defining them from their own perspective. They may be conceptual, textual, or physical; and range in size from micro to macro. The project looks to engage the range of associations/relationships that people have with space, building a collection of unique environments that take on meaning by the fact that they are described, located and catalogued. In the end what will be defined is a breadth of perspective that shows the vitality of peoples connection to space.
Words of interest are loss, preservation, woodland, boundary, geography, cultural geography, psycho-geography,middle landscape, sub-urban, urban, rural, forgotten, decay, disused, watershed, lot, parcel, lunch poems, walking, listening, and revitalization.
To get involved got to the website - http://freespace.matthewslaats.com/projects/
Hyde Park Visual History Project
Dates:
Sat Oct 17, 2009 00:00 - Sun Sep 20, 2009
On October 17th from 8 - 11pm the Hyde Park Visual History Project will premier a dynamic display of images and audio at the Hyde Park Drive In Theatre. The project, supported by the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Dutchess County Art Council, and the Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial, is the culmination of two years of work by artist Matthew Slaats. This interactive installation serves as a meeting point for the community, arts and history of Hyde Park, New York.
For this event the immense screen of the drive in will be filled with flashes of light that show vibrant images of this Hudson River town. The images will shift between those displaying people and places to dramatically connect the two. The audience, using software designed for the project, will dynamically control the images through their movements around the site.
All visual material will be supported by a site-specific soundscape developed specifically for the project. Using radio transmission and the car radios of those attending the event, the audio will create moments of resonance throughout the drive in. The audience will be asked to walk through the landscape to hear oral histories, interviews and field recordings taken in Hyde Park over the last two years.
The Hyde Park Visual History Project is a community‐centered artistic project that engages the elaborate evolution of the local landscape and its inhabitants through images and sound. The project builds an understanding of place through donated images, home movies, film, and audio. Then seeing that media resituated back into the landscape.
Further information please visit http://thehydeparkproject.com.
For more information please contact the artist -
Matthew Slaats
845.889.8181
hydeparkproject@gmail.com.
For this event the immense screen of the drive in will be filled with flashes of light that show vibrant images of this Hudson River town. The images will shift between those displaying people and places to dramatically connect the two. The audience, using software designed for the project, will dynamically control the images through their movements around the site.
All visual material will be supported by a site-specific soundscape developed specifically for the project. Using radio transmission and the car radios of those attending the event, the audio will create moments of resonance throughout the drive in. The audience will be asked to walk through the landscape to hear oral histories, interviews and field recordings taken in Hyde Park over the last two years.
The Hyde Park Visual History Project is a community‐centered artistic project that engages the elaborate evolution of the local landscape and its inhabitants through images and sound. The project builds an understanding of place through donated images, home movies, film, and audio. Then seeing that media resituated back into the landscape.
Further information please visit http://thehydeparkproject.com.
For more information please contact the artist -
Matthew Slaats
845.889.8181
hydeparkproject@gmail.com.
Augmented Reality - My Name is Madison
Dates:
Thu Jun 15, 2006 00:00 - Tue Jun 13, 2006
My Name is Madison
Artist - Matthew Slaats
Taking Madison, WI as its subject, My Name is Madison is an Augmented Reality Game that allows users to explore and interact with the urban landscape from a multitude of perspectives. This project approachs the city as a layered environment. Players understand the development of place through the eyes of history, culture and fantasy.
Using GPS enabled hand held computers, participants take on the roles of both recipient and creator, performance in context. While walking about the streets, they are provided with information that enhances their understanding of the environment and then gives them the tools to create their own interpretations of place. Documentation of these events will be posted to www.mynameismadison.blogspot.com.
The project opens as a part of the Games, Learning and Society Conference taking place in Madison, WI June 15-16. www.glsconference.org
Artist - Matthew Slaats
Taking Madison, WI as its subject, My Name is Madison is an Augmented Reality Game that allows users to explore and interact with the urban landscape from a multitude of perspectives. This project approachs the city as a layered environment. Players understand the development of place through the eyes of history, culture and fantasy.
Using GPS enabled hand held computers, participants take on the roles of both recipient and creator, performance in context. While walking about the streets, they are provided with information that enhances their understanding of the environment and then gives them the tools to create their own interpretations of place. Documentation of these events will be posted to www.mynameismadison.blogspot.com.
The project opens as a part of the Games, Learning and Society Conference taking place in Madison, WI June 15-16. www.glsconference.org
