Kunstverein Langenhagen

Matthew Cowan is a New Zealand artist, working in the realm of traditional European customs. His works are photographs, videos, installations and performances, which play with the inherent strangeness of the continued popularity of long established folk customs in a modern world. These works can be viewed as mock folk performances in themselves, playing with the elements of folk rituals that give people a link to the past. In contemporary European societies, people have a peculiar relationship with folk traditions that is part uneasiness about the past and part fascination with spectacle and long established ritual. In investigating the celebration and performance of folk traditions, a primary theme is the presence of humour and subversion of the usual social order.

Recent exhibitions have been in London, Sapporo, New York and Auckland (solo), and Braunschweig (group). For 2014/25, Matthew Cowan held a residency at the Hochschule für bildende Kunst, Braunschweig Germany being part of the international program Braunschweig Projects.