MATT CLARKE
Matthew clarke is a founding partner of United Visual Artists, which he established in 2003. UVA is an art practice that combines a wide range of disciplines including sculpture, installation, live performance, and architecture. UVA’s lines of enquiry include the tension between real and synthesised experiences – the questioning of our relationship with technology, and the creation of phenomena that transcend the purely physical. UVA’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the V&A, the Royal Academy of Art, the Southbank Centre, the Barbican Centre, the Welcome Collection, Opera North Leeds, Durham Cathedral and The British Library. Their artworks have also toured internationally to cities including Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Barcelona. UVA also have large scale permanent art works in Toronto and Istanbul. In 2014, Matthew will also be a jury member at the inaugural LCD Awards.
If there was one piece of art you could feature in, which would it be and why?
James Turrell's Roden Crater as it's near impossible to get an invitation to experience it and it will be a few years until it's open for public viewing.
Who inspires you and why? An artist, a family member, someone current or historical?
My son is always drawing and imagining, his creativity has not yet been marred by the opinions of others and I'm kind of jealous of that creative freedom. I like to listen to Robert Irwin talk about his work, he has a unique way of taking complex philosophical ideas and turning them into something accessible.
What are your cultural aspirations? What do you still want to see, do and achieve?
We have been fortunate to show our work globally and continue to do so so I'm generally quite happy with way things are. One commission took me on a three week sailing trip around Svalbard in the Arctic, along with a group of scientists. We were hundreds of miles from any kind of civilisation for days on end with no phones or computer connectivity, it was heaven.
What are your favourite cultural cities in the world and why?
London is my home, it was where I was born so I find it really difficult to think of living anywhere else in the world. I always love going to Tokyo, it's both strangely familiar and completely alien at the same time, and I also love the food there. Istanbul has a lot of energy and if you find the right place, a breakfast banquet by the Bosphorus is something to experience.
What are you up to at the moment and where can we find it?