about matra
matralab is a research space of inter-x art at Concordia University in Montréal. We are dedicated to using interdisciplinary art practice to bridge the gap between emerging art forms and their aesthetic reflection.
Our research is leading to the establishment of a practical and theoretical framework for the creation and evaluation of interdisciplinary, intercultural, intermedia and interactive art.
Creating a New Artistic Language
As our lives are becoming more digitalized and more globalized, so is art. Art today cannot be contained within any one culture, discipline or medium: Composers make films, actors use wearable computers, artists design miming robots, Indian traditional dancers compose real-time electronic music, and so on. Sometimes all these things happen simultaneously, in one space.
Canada Research Chair Sandeep Bhagwati studies how these bewildering new art forms work. He believes that the separation of the arts into disciplines is out of date. In our everyday lives we manage to juggle so many different forms of experience, using most of our senses most of the time. Bhagwati asks why shouldn’t our art be like that too? And, perhaps most importantly, how can we make this new art accessible to everyone?
As a composer, Sandeep Bagwati has produced music that brings together influences from classical and contemporary cultures, including the cultures of India, China, the Arabian world and the West. His artistic expression, which is deeply influenced by scientific thinking, has taken on diverse forms - from opera and concert music to museum exhibitions, from video dance and experimental radio art to works exploring the properties of social and public space, as well as interactive internet art.
As a Canada Research Chair, Sandeep Bhagwati explores the possibilities of a new interdisciplinary and intercultural artistic language with his colleagues at Concordia University. Just as opera once integrated all artistic forms of expressions of its age and culture, the new artistic language will enable artists to create - and audiences from diverse backgrounds to understand - the clashes and subtle interplays of different sensibilities, thus helping us all to cope with the challenges and delights of personal and social diversity in intuitively satisfying ways.
Matralab is located in the EV building, Concordia University at 1515 ste Catherine St Ouest.
