Matthew D. Gantt - Diagnostics (2020)

Diagnostics is a procession of nested MIDI architectures, clip art serialism, and hypothetical kinetic sculptures suspended in virtual space.

Drawing inspiration from the uncanny vectors of Intelligent Music’s early generative ‘M’ software, Bell Labs’ mainframe geodesics and the emissive glow of digital production presets, these works chart the landscape between vintage cyber-optimism and future deepfake horror as contemporary experience tumbles across the vanishing point.

Matthew D. Gantt is an artist, composer and educator based between Troy, NY and Queens, NYC. His practice focuses on sound in virtual spaces, generative systems facilitated by idiosyncratic technology, and digital production presets as sonic readymades.

He worked as a studio assistant to electronics pioneer Morton Subotnick from 2016 - '18, and has been an active participant in the NYC creative community, presenting or performing at spaces such as Pioneer Works, Issue Project Room, Roulette, Babycastles, Silent Barn and similar, and abroad (IRCAM Academy, Paris, Koma Elektronic/Common Ground, Berlin).

Gantt has taught electronic and experimental composition across institutional and DIY spaces, including NYC non-profit/public media studio Harvestworks, CUNY Brooklyn, Bard College, and a variety of community workshops aimed at creating equitable access to developing technologies. In Fall '19, he joined the Electronic Arts PhD program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/EMPAC, researching spatial sound in virtual reality and the use of concepts from experimental arts practice as a frame to refigure possibilities for immersive media futures.