“Matt Hulse creates out of whatever is to hand – he transforms the everyday and banal into something striking, witty and beautiful.” (Glasgow Short Film Festival)
“His photographs are extraordinary in every respect,” said Simone Klein of Magnum Photos, “they reveal the existential core element of humanity in disturbingly simple pictures.” (British Journal of Photography)
“In the twilight zone between art and cinema – Hulse makes images like Stockhausen makes music.” (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
“An incredibly ambitious, and community-minded film, Sound for the Future explores how impossible it is to separate personal, political, and national histories, and how difficult that can be to reckon with.” (The Slice)
Matt Hulse is an artist, filmmaker, photographer, performer and writer. His films have screened at dozens of festivals and galleries in 25+ countries internationally.
He has been nominated thrice each for The Jarman Award and The Margaret Tait Awards. In 2019 he was one of ten artists commissioned to make a short film for Margaret Tait 100, celebrating the centenary of Orcadian filmmaker.
In 2017 he was the overall winner of Germany’s prestigious Felix Schoeller Photo Award.
2022 brings to light his third feature-length film, supported by Creative England and Creative Scotland – SOUND FOR THE FUTURE – that premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2020.
Matt’s second feature-length film Dummy Jim (2013) premiered at Rotterdam International Film Festival (nominated for a Tiger Award) and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) (nominated for the Michael Powell Award). “Totally unique mixture of documentary, fiction and playful visual poetry.”
In December 2015 he completed a major book on Dummy Jim co-published by The Saltire Society.
Matt’s debut feature Follow The Master (2009) premiered at EIFF: “An inspired cinematic pleasure.”
His work features in Time Out’s 1000 Films to Change Your Life (Simon Cropper 2006) and A History of Experimental Film & Video (A.L.Rees 1999) and is kept at the National Media Museum (UK), National Library of Scotland, Gallaudet University (Washington DC), The Wallace Library (Rochester, NY) and Fales Library (New York University).
SELECTED AWARDS
★ Best Humour in the Face of Absolute Fucking Terror Award (Swedenborg Film Festival 2023) ★ Winner (Jury Award) Urban Space Film Prize (Weltkunstzimmer, Düsseldorf, 2023) ★ Audience Award Swedenborg Film Festival (with Sami Fitz) (2020) ★ Felix Schoeller Photo Award (Gold) (2017) ★ Audience Award 9. Dresdner Schmalfilmtage (2009) ★ Hoppe-Ritter Teamwork Award 21st Stuttgart Filmwinter (2008) ★ Kodak Animation Award San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival (2004) ★ Special Award for Film Split Festival of New Film (shared with Jean-Luc Godard) (2001) ★ Best Experimental Film Melbourne International Film Festival (2001) ★ First Prize (Video) Transmediale Berlin (1999) ★ Fox Searchlight Best British Short Film (EIFF, 1998) ★ Scottish BAFTA™ New Talent Award (1998)
RETROSPECTIVE SCREENINGS
★ Zajia Lab Beijing (2015) ★ Unheard Festival Amsterdam (2011) ★ Nova Cinema Brussels (2008) ★ ICA London (London Short Film Festival) (2007) ★ Festival International du Film de La Rochelle (2005) ★ Art Institute Chicago (Gene Siskel Film Centre) (2004) ★ MACBA Barcelona (L’Alternativa) (2003) ★ Centre for Contemporary Art Warsaw (Kinolab) (2003) ★ Filmfest Dresden (2002)
GALLERY
★ BRIDGES / BRÜCKEN (Haslams, Reading, 2023) ★ Gartenhaus Für J.B. (Hofgarten, Theatermuseum Düsseldorf, 2023) ★ CUTLOG (Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2022) ★ EXCHANGE / AUSTAUSCH (Düsseldorf Stadtmuseum and Reading Museum, 2022) ★ LA STRADA (Düsseldorf, 2022) ★ Surreal Reality (Liebig12 Gallery, Berlin, 2022) ★ CUTLOG (Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2021) ★ Virtual Visions (Blakefest 2020) ★ SPACEFALL – Düsseldorf Photo Weekend 2018 (Collaboration with Julia Zinnbauer) ★ NEIGHBOURHOOD – Düsseldorf Photo Weekend 2018 ★ Better To Wear Out Shoes Than Sheets – Gymnasium Gallery (Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2013) ★ Inside the Artist’s Workplace – Cameron Art Museum Wilmington NC (2012) ★ Dog Park – G Gallery Houston USA (2012) ★ Aller À Ouessant: Vidéo Sur L’Ile # 2 – Brest (2010) ★ Running Time: Artists Film in Scotland 1960 to Now – Dean Gallery Edinburgh (2009) ★ Figuring Landscapes: Artists’ Moving Image from UK & Australia – International Touring Exhibition (2009) ★ Let Me Show You Some Things – CCA Glasgow (2008) ★ Undercover Surrealism – Hayward Gallery London (2006) ★ A Century of Artists’ Film in Britain – Tate Britain London (2003) ★ FABULA – National Media Museum Bradford (2003)
RESIDENCIES
★ MOMENTS International Residency (Theatermuseum Düsseldorf, 2023) ★ Co-residency with Düsseldorf artist Julia Zinnbauer (Jelly, Reading, 2021) ★ 12 Artists at Home (Jelly, Reading, 2020) ★ ACES (Aberdeen University Centre for Environmental Sustainability) (2013) ★ Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (2013) ★ Cucalorus Film Festival (Wilmington NC 2012) ★ Wooda Arts (North Cornwall 2009) ★ Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw 2004)
CURATION
The Audible Picture Show (2003, ongoing) International touring show of audio-only works by a diversity of visual artists, sound artists, film makers, animators, writers, radio makers and musicians, for dark cinemas.
FilmCraft (Dovecot, Edinburgh, 2009) Live events & screenings exploring relationships between craft & the moving image, with emphasis on textiles.
Sign Language Cinema (2002-3 & 2006) Journeys into deaf moving image culture, Filmhouse & Glasgow Film Theatre
The Sound of Loozak (2001) Audio pieces by a diversity of makers installed in the public toilets of The Arches, Glasgow.
VARIOUS
Experimental Film Tutor at Edinburgh College of Art (2003-2008) and ad-hoc lecturer at Napier University (Edinburgh), TUMO (Yerevan, Armenia), Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography (Armenia), RCA (London), University of Dundee, University of North Carolina (Film Studies Department), Sint Lukas School (Brussels), Sarah Lawrence College (NYC) and Glasgow School of Art.
Ongoing collaborations with producer and curator Amanda Game, creating short essay films on aspects of craft and making, the most recent being four works with the collective title Women and Jewellery: A Contemporary Perspective.
Former collaboration with composer Max Richter creating projected moving image for live performances of The Blue Notebooks and Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ for Deutsche Grammophon. Concerts included Wordless Music Season (NYC), Unsound Festival (Krakow) & Teatro Della Pergola (Florence).
Composed and produced a 43-track double-CD concept album called The Pet Project, a unique collection of songs about animals commissioned by their owners (2017).
Participant on the Artist As Leader Lab hosted by Pal Labs / On The Edge Research (Robert Gordon University), a focus group whose research results impacted upon Scottish Government arts and cultural policy (2007).
Collaborated with the Scottish Clarinet Quartet / Gameshow Outpatient creating projected moving image for live performances of The Parlour Guide to Exo-Politics (2011).
Director on the Video for Dance Workshop at Glasgow Film and Video Workshop led by Elliot Caplan of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation (1995).
Voice-over artist and sound designer on several award-winning short films.
Music Leader for Readipop Charity.
Player in Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra.
Freelance tour leader to the DPRK (North Korea) for Koryo Tours (2015-2017).
Matt Hulse December 2023
Matt Hulse 