Pedro Matias | Contemporary Artist, Researcher and Filmmaker

Pedro Matias is a Lisbon-born, Amsterdam-based artist, researcher, and filmmaker whose interdisciplinary practice operates at the intersection of audio-visuals, materiality, and critical thought. Holding an MFA from the Sandberg Instituut and an MA in Philosophy from the New University of Lisbon, Pedro Matias creates immersive environments that challenge traditional participation and circulate alternative flows of knowledge. Their work often centers on the concept of 'aesthesis' and the performativity of matter, shape-shifting across various mediums to investigate liminal spaces of regeneration and the queer human and more-than-human potential for political action. A significant part of the practice involves exploring haptics and speculative touch to prompt embodied affective flows that unsettle the bodily ecosystem. Pedro Matias facilitates time-based spaces where the 'stranger' self, body, and matter can be encountered and reimagined. This search for performativity and agency in matter is often a longing for a utopian, intimate, and soft futurity. In addition to individual work, Pedro Matias is a co-founder of the Driewieler Collectief and the Iridescent Institute of Desire, a collaborative artist-run research network focused on decomposing stable structures. Their projects have been presented at prestigious venues such as the Sonic Acts Biennial, W139, and Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea. Beyond their artistic output, they are a dedicated researcher and educator, serving as a guest teacher at institutions like the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Falmouth School of Art.