Donna Matthews discusses spiritual contemplation and its relationship to artistic practice.
Recording of Make Good November at Lumen, Kings Cross
Donna Matthews reflected on the way contemplation has become foundational to her art practice: discussing parallels between flow, free improvisation, and speaking in tongues, looking at them as intuitive modes of consciousness that enhance receptivity to inspiration.
Donna very kindly re-recorded this after our November event in London, to make the talk available for people to access.
Donna Matthews is an improvisor, musician, and video artist. In the 1990’s she played lead guitar in Elastica and lo-fi, DIY band Klang, and in subsequent years devised and facilitated creative workshops for people in recovery from addiction. She is currently studying a practice-based PhD in Music at University of Glasgow, researching Improvisation as a Liminal Experience. Interested in issues such as poetic intuition, inspiration, and gift, her work explores how the intuitive state might be conveyed through aesthetic form, whilst also exploring improvisation as a means of ‘undoing form’ in order to experience the inspired state.