Miwa Matreyek creates performances where real shapes and virtual images trade places, amid layers of animation, video and live bodies.

Why you should listen

Miwa Matreyek's work blurs the line between real and unreal. In live works that integrate animation, performance, and video installation, she explores how animation changes when it is combined with body and space (and vice versa). In her video projects, animation takes on a more physical and present quality, while body and space take on a more fantastical quality.

On one hand, Matreyek's performance can be viewed as a cinematic experience taking place on a screen. On the other hand, what is seen on the screen is a collapsed product of multiple layers of animation, objects and body. Her work exists in a juxtaposition of illusion and nonillusion. Matreyek is also a founding member of the performance media group Cloud Eye Control, which makes theatrical productions with cleverly integrated animation projections.

The piece Matreyek performs at TEDGlobal 2010 is an abridgement of the work "Myth and Infrastructure."

Music credits:

Shadow Hands scene song: Anna Oxygen
Island scene song: "Shells" by Mirah, (a)spera, K records
City scene song: Caroline Lufkin
Magic Hands scene song: Anna Oxygen
additional music by Mileece

What others say

“She seamlessly combines the would-be-separate mediums of performance art, animation, sculpture and music to create a simultaneously whimsical and intricate experience.” — FineArtsLA.com

Miwa Matreyek’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Miwa Matreyek

Live from TEDGlobal

Glorious visions from animation and shadow: Miwa Matreyek on TED.com

October 29, 2010

Using animation, projections and her own moving shadow, Miwa Matreyek performs a gorgeous, meditative piece about inner and outer discovery. Take a quiet 10 minutes and dive in. With music from Anna Oxygen, Mirah, Caroline Lufkin and Mileece. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 11:12) [ted id=995] Watch Miwa Matreyek’s performance […]

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