Matt Steinke

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Matt Steinke (Durham, North Carolina, 1972) is a sculptor, composer, animator, and performing artist. MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2004).

His work has been presented in museums, galleries, festivals, and DIY venues across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Awards and honors include: The Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Interdisciplinary/Computer Art (2004), a New Music USA Project Grant (2015), and finalist recognition at ArtPrize (2016). His “Stepper Rattle” instrument was awarded honors at the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition (2018).He collaborated with the Portuguese collective Sonoscopia on Artificialia, a large-scale multimedia installation at the Teatro Municipal do Porto (2021). Recent exhibitions include Earplugs at The Contemporary Austin (2022) and Un-Verb at Northern-Southern (2022).

Raised in Friendswood, Texas, Steinke is the son of a respected Lutheran theologian and one of a large family of artists and intellectuals. After graduating from Anderson High School in Austin, he became part of the Pacific Northwest new music and arts community of K Records and Kill Rock Stars, performing with Satisfact, Mocket, and Octant. As a young artist, he studied electronics and lutherie while working as an amplifier technician, grounding his later experiments in sound technology.

Steinke’s current work synthesizes sound, generative composition, robotics, acoustics, sculpture, installation art, and storytelling. Emerging organically from his punk/DIY roots, his first “Octants” were robotic percussionists that accompanied his vocal-based performances. Since 2015, he has focused on developing autonomous musical sculptures and immersive installations and sound environments.