Matthias Schack-Arnott

Matthias Schack-Arnott is an Australian artist, composer and percussionist, whose works span live performance, public art and installation. Over the last decade he has been building unique kinetic systems to create visceral and visually compelling sound worlds.

Described by The Guardian as ‘visually and sonically exquisite’, Matthias’ works have been presented by major festivals and contemporary art spaces including the Venice Biennale, Noordezon (Netherlands), Spring Festival (Utrecht), Brighton Festival (UK), National Museum of Australia, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Perth Festival, Dark Mofo, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art,  Melbourne Festival, RISING Festival (Melbourne),  Arts House (Melbourne), The Unconformity (Tasmania), La Comete (France), Spor Festival (Denmark), The Substation (Melbourne) and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Matthias has worked with many pre-imminent musicians including Steve Reich (USA), Claire Chase (USA), Unsuk Chin (Korea), Zeena Perkins (USA), Valerio Tricoli (Italy), John Zorn (USA), Liza Lim (Aus) and Steven Schick (USA) and as a performer has presented work internationally at the Barbican (London), Cafe Oto (London), Ruhr Triennale (Germany), Transart (Italy), Tage für Neue Musik (Zurich), Batteries (Geneva), Pioneer Works (New York), Kitchen (New York) and Form Festival (Phoenix).

From 2010-2018 Matthias was the Artistic Associate of Australia’s leading percussive arts organisation, Speak Percussion (‘virtuosic and adventurous’, New York Times). During his time with the company he worked closely with Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti in shaping the artistic program, including more than 60 commissions, many critically acclaimed interdisciplinary projects and performances in the world’s leading arts festivals.

Matthias’ work ‘Everywhen’ won ‘Work of Year: Electro- Acoustic/Sound Art’ at the 2020 Australian Art Music Awards. He has also been awarded the MTNow Prize (Rotterdam) for ‘Pendulum’, the 2016 Melbourne Prize for Music (Development Award), the 2014 Green Room Award for ‘Outstanding Work by an Emerging Artist’ for his work ‘Fluvial’  as well as four Australian Art Music Awards for his work with Speak Percussion, including the 2019 ‘Performance of the Year’.

Matthias has also created new works with some of Australia’s most celebrated choreographers. He co-created ‘They Want New Language’ with Antony Hamilton in 2017 for La Comete (France) and collaborated with Lucy Guerin to create a large-scale interdisciplinary work commissioned by RISING Festival in association with National Gallery of Victoria.

As a musician, Matthias has been a soloist and collaborator with many of Australia’s leading arts organisations, including Australian Art Orchestra, Chamber Made, Liquid Architecture, Topology, Clocked Out, Elision and Aphids, as well as both the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.