Matthew Sleeth (born 1972) is an Australian visual artist and filmmaker. His often collaborative practice incorporates photography, film, sculpture and installation with a particular focus on the aesthetic and conceptual concerns of new media. The performative and photographic nature of media art is regularly highlighted in his work.

Early life

Sleeth was born in 1972 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Career

Matthew Sleeth's early career is defined through three photographic monographs. ''Roaring Days'', is the only one showing his work with black & white photography, played with nostalgia and politics. ''The Bank Book'' is a response to the making of a feature film. ''Tour of Duty'', explores the performance/performative aspect of armed conflict as seen during the

1999 East Timorese crisis The 1999 East Timorese crisis began with attacks by pro-Indonesia militia groups on civilians, and expanded to general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili. The violence intensified after a majority of eligible East Timo ...

. In 2001, he was named one of the 30 most influential artists under 30 in PDN Magazine. In 2005/6 Sleeth lived in Tokyo as part of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

’s studio residency program. Then, in 2007, he was featured on the cover of ''Australian Art Collector'' magazine. Following the publication of ''Opfikon'' in 2004, Sleeth's practice became more conceptually driven. His work expanded from photography and video to include sculpture, print-making and installation. ''Pattern Recognition'', an exhibition of public billboards for the 2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival, was described as exploring "ideas about photography itself and the way it has historically been used to order and categorise life". The

Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a forum fo ...

's ''Exposures Blog'' described his New York solo exhibition, ''Various Positions (parts 1 through 6)'', as "working toward a new photographic aesthetic". It opened at Claire Oliver Gallery in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northern b ...

on 18 March 2009. Sleeth has consistently embraced new technologies and methods of production, working with 3D printing, aerial drones, electronics and computer programming. His work with 3D printing and CNC fabrication led to Sleeth's sculptural installation, ''The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization (And Other Obvious Metaphors)''. This concrete freeway combined photography, metal, plywood and micro-computers with LED displays. As his film practice evolved, Sleeth's interest in performance became more apparent, particularly in video works such as ''I Don't See God Up Here'' and ''Kerobokan Portraits ndrew and Myuran'. In 2015 Sleeth co-wrote and directed ''A Drone Opera''. Presented by

Arts House Arts House is a centre for contemporary performance and interactive artforms in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 2006, it is a program of the City of Melbourne. It supports and presents a range of experimental theatre Experimental theatre ...

and Experimenta, the live performance combined opera singers, laser set-design and purpose-built drones to bring together the sense of surveillance and menace that explores our relationship with new technologies. In June 2019, a cinematic version of ''A Drone Opera'' was screened at the Sydney Film Festival and a three-channel film installation was presented at

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fa ...

, Sydney. Sleeth's work with

Myuran Sukumaran Myuran Sukumaran (17 April 1981 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian who was convicted in Indonesia of drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Sukumaran was arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel in Kuta with eight others. Poli ...

Kerobokan Prison Kerobokan Penitentiary Institution ( id, Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Kerobokan, also known as LP Kerobokan, Kerobokan Prison or Hotel K) is a prison located in Kerobokan, Badung Regency, on the Indonesian island of Bali. Located 4 km (2.49 mil ...

and the campaign to save Sukumaran and

Andrew Chan Andrew Chan (; 12 January 1984 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian man who was convicted and executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Chan was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. ...

from execution, fuelled the development of 2017's ''Guilty''. In his feature film debut, Sleeth highlighted the final 72 hours of Sukumaran's life and questions the use of execution as a means of punishment. ''Guilty'' premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 8 October 2017 and was released by Madman Entertainment on DVD in April 2020.

Filmography

Films

Short films

Film festivals

* ''Guilty'', Adelaide Film Festival, premiere, 2017 * ''Guilty'', Human Rights Film Festival, 2018 * ''Guilty'', Dili International Film Festival, 2018 * ''A Drone Opera'', Sydney Film Festival, premiere, 2019

Live performance

* ''A Drone Opera'' (Director, Writer, Performer) - commissioned by Experimenta Media Arts and presented by Arts House at Meat Market, Melbourne, September 2015. * ''Prize Fighter'' (Performer) - presented by La Boite Theatre and Melbourne International Arts Festival, October 2018.

Monographs

* ''Roaring Days'' (M.33, Melbourne, 1998) * ''Tour of Duty'' (Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2002) * ''home + away'' (M.33, Melbourne, 2003) * ''Survey'' (Josef Lebovic Gallery, Sydney, 2004) * ''Opfikon'' (M.33, Melbourne, 2004) * ''Ten Series/106 Photographs'' (

, New York, 2007)

Collections

Sleeth's work is held in the following public collections: * Artbank *

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

* Brandts Museet for Fotokunst *

Campbelltown Arts Centre Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C or CAC) is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. It is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by other governm ...

* La Trobe University Art Museum *

Monash Gallery of Art The City of Monash is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne with an area of 81.5 square kilometres and a population of 200,077 people in 2016. Demographics Monash has a diverse pop ...

Monash University Museum of Art The Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), formerly the Monash University Gallery, is a contemporary art museum on Monash University's Caulfield campus on Dandenong Road, Melbourne, Australia. History The Museum grew out of a number of ear ...

* Museum of Photographic Arts *

Lyon Housemuseum The Lyon Housemuseum is a hybrid residence and contemporary art museum located on Cotham Road, Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Housemuseum displays the Lyon Collection of Australian contemporary art in a purpose designed building. The ...

* National Gallery of Australia * National Gallery of Victoria * National Portrait Gallery (Australia) * Town Hall Gallery

Solo exhibitions

* ''Short Stories'', Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 1996 * ''Boys'', Prostitutes Collective of Victoria, Melbourne 1997 * '' Silvers Circus'', Leica Gallery, Solms, Germany 1998 * ''Roaring Days'', Stills Gallery, Sydney 1998 * ''Roaring Days'', Photographers’ Gallery, Melbourne 1998 * ''Roaring Days'', Saba Gallery, New York 2000 * ''Tour of Duty'', Boccalero Gallery, Los Angeles 2001 * ''Roaring Days'', Leica Gallery, Tokyo 2001 * ''Tour Of Duty'', Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2002 * ''Feet'', Citylights, Melbourne 2003 * ''Survey'', Josef Lebovic Gallery at The Depot, Sydney 2004 * ''Tour Of Duty'', Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne 2004 * ''Red China'', Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne 2005 * ''Rosebud'', Fremantle Prison, Fotofreo Festival, Fremantle, Western Australia 2006 * ''Pictured'', Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne 2006 * ''Call Of The Wild'', Fyrtøjet, Odense Photo Triennial, Denmark. 2006 * ''12 Views of Mount Fuji'', Jan Manton Art, Brisbane 2007 * ''Mixed Tape'', Sophie Gannon Gallery, Melbourne 2007 * ''Ten Series'', Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney 2007 * ''Ten Series'', Aperture Gallery, New York 2008 * ''Matthew Sleeth'', Claire Oliver Gallery, Next 08 @ Art Chicago, USA 2008 * ''Pattern Recognition'', Sophie Gannon Gallery & multiple site specific public installations Melbourne International Arts Festival, Melbourne 2008 * ''Various Positions Parts 1-6'', Claire Oliver Gallery, New York 2009 * ''The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization (And Other Obvious Metaphors)'', Claire Oliver Gallery, New York 2011 * ''The Generative Freeway Project'',

Tin Sheds Gallery The Tin Sheds was the common name of the Sydney University Art Workshop was an Australian art workshop in Sydney, New South Wales, founded in 1969. Its name lives on in the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, ...

, Sydney, (ISEA) 2013 * ''The Last Carpark'', WestSpace, Melbourne (Liquid Architecture Festival of Sound Art) 2013 * ''Representation and Reproduction: a love story'', Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 2014 * ''Intentionally Left Blank'', Trocadero Art Space, Melbourne 2014 * ''Magnificent Obsessions'', Claire Oliver Gallery, New York 2015 * ''Rules to Live By'', Claire Oliver Gallery, New York 2016 * ''The End'', Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne 2017 * ''It Was All A Dream'', Pulse, Miami 2017 * ''Rosebud'', Town Hall Gallery, Melbourne 2018 * ''A Drone Opera'',

, Sydney 2019 * ''A Drone Opera'',

, Melbourne 2020 * ''A Drone Opera'',

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...

, Austria 2020

References

External links

Matthew Sleeth represented by Claire Oliver

National Gallery of Victoria website

Matthew Sleeth website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleeth, Matthew 1972 births Australian photographers Living people Australian contemporary artists