The creations of the English artist Matt Stokes are based on his research in the field of cultural anthropology. He is interested in collective events and movements, and the subjects that he selects are context-related. His artistic projects often involve collaborations with different partners. We discovered his work at an ICA exhibition in London , where he was awarded the Beck’s Future 2006 prize. His project for attitudes, [un]promised land, consisting of three formally distinct but closely related works, will be his first personal exhibition outside the UK .
The super 16mm film Long After Tonight, shot at Saint Salvador’s Church in Dundee , stages a bizarre dancing party that revives the events typical of the 1970s. The slow shots of the nave and ornaments alternate with close-ups of the bodies of men and women dancing wildly on the rhythm of Northern Soul. As a contrast, in the final zoom out, the camera reveals the severe and misty environment of this typical town from Southern Scotland . The film shows the harshness of its everyday life, and evokes the weight of religion through the architecture that is here invested with a festive event.
The set Real Arcadia is a research on the history of Out House Promotions, a group no longer active which organized Acid House events in the north of England . Matt Stokes documents and interprets this underground operation by collecting objects and accounts made by former members of the group, party goers, inhabitants and proprietors, or even by policemen of the area. Thus, he analyses the identity of the Rave culture and the impact of its lost ideals.

The performances Sacred Selections aim to gather people with contrasting interests such as ancient organ, underground music and contemporary art. A number of popular tracks from the North of England – Northern Soul, Happy Hardcore and Black Metal – were selected by DJs and transcribed by members of the Royal College of Organists to be played on pipe organs during recitals of experimental music.To echo the exhibition [un]promised land, we present a recital of Happy Hardcore, selected by DJ Sy and transcribed by John Riley, which will be interpreted by the English organist Paul Ayres on the most ancient functioning organ in the world, in the exceptional environment of the Basilique de Valère in Sion.

Basilique de Valère

supported by Banca del Gottardo and British Council.

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Matt Stokes - (UK, born in 1973, live in Newcastle upon Tyne)

solo exhibitions
2007 attitudes - espace d'arts contemporain, Genève / Lost in the Rythm, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin / 2006 Pills to purge Melancholy, Collective Gallery, Edimburgh / 2000 Roll-in'Along, projection publique, Manchester

group exhibitions
2007 The projection Project, Musée d'art contemporain, Anvers / 2006 Street behind the cliché, Witte de With, Rotterdam / Beck's Futures (lauréat), ICA, London, Glasgow et Bristol / EAST Internantional, Norwich Gallery, et NASD, East Anglia / You Shall Know Our Velocity, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead / Blue Star, Red Wedge, WASPS, Glasgow International, Glasgow / 2005 Our Surroundings, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee / Gatsobyter, Plan 9 Artists Space, Bristol / Sacred Selections, performance avec Grizedale Arts, Coniston Festival / Everything Must Go, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear / 2004 Romantic Detachment, PS1 MOMA, New York et Chapter Gallery, Cardiff / Spark Video International, Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario, Canada / QSL, FM radio broadcast, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Middlesbrough / S1 Salon Cabaret, S1 Art Space, Sheffield / 2003 Space Between Us, Friar House, Newcastle upon Tyne (curated by SMART, Amsterdam) / Lets Get Married, Grizedale Arts, Cumbria / Vacant, Vardy Gallery, Sunderland / Spark Video Programme, Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse / LUX Open, Royal College of Art, London / 2002 Living Proof, Live FM radio broadcast from Bewick Court, Newcastle upon Tyne / Memento, Underground stations on the Tyne and Wear Metro system / VideoROM, Museo Arte Contemporanea, Roma et Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bergamo / Land and the Samling, Kielder Water and Forest, Northumberland / The BigM, A mobile projection space, Europe / Mostyn 12 Open, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno / Visions in the Nunnery, Nunnery Gallery, Bow Arts Trust, London / 2001 VideoROM, programme, Biennale de Valencia / Retail Therapy, City Art Weekender, Sunderland / Allotment, Adhoc Gallery, Wallsend, North Tyneside / 2000 Small Battles, Mackey Mayor Building, Manchester / ROOT, organisé par Hull Time Based Arts, Timebase, Hull / VANE, Disused shop unit, Highbridge, Newcastle upon Tyne / NOW Festival, Queens Street, Nottingham / 1999 VANE Export, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm / Field, hamlet of Hallington, Northumberland / Tongue'n Groove, Pine Factory Warehouse, Gateshead