Matt Romein
Matt Romein is an artist and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. His work consists of live performance, virtual puppetry, generative computer art, and video game theater. Employing humor and subversion, he makes work that playfully navigates the complexities of bodies caught between their physical and digital selves.
His performance work has been presented at Under The Radar, The Brick, CATCH, CultureHub, and more. His video design work has been shown at SchauSpielHaus Hamburg, Soho Rep, The Public Theater, and The Kitchen. His art installation work has been shown at Sundance’s New Frontier Program, IDFA’s DocLab, and SXSW. He has had artist residencies and received grants from MacDowell, Yaddo, NYFA/NYSCA, Mercury Store, Pioneer Works, Bogliasco, CultureHub, and more. He is a 2025 Franklin Furnace Grant for Performance Art Recipient, a 2026 Loghaven Artist Fellow, and a studio member at Onassis ONX.
Meat Puppet Arcade, 2016. Meat Puppet Arcade is a series of experiments in which the artist uses a nude 3D scan of his own body to create video games, installations, and video pieces. Photo by Andrew J. Levine.
In Triplicate, 2018. In Triplicate is a custom audio/visual instrument originally developed for the New Interfaces in Musical Expression showcase. Using a live camera and a live microphone, quick samples of sound and video can be chopped up and distorted using granular synthesis and slit-scan techniques. Photo by Leon Eckert.
Bag of Worms, 2024. Bag of Worms is a motion capture theater piece. An irreverent grab bag of Looney Tunes violence and recycled intellectual properties in which artist Matt Romein uses motion capture suits to project performers into a video game of his own making. In collaboration with Peter Mills Weiss & Julia Mounsey. Photo by Alycia Kravitz.
analmosh, 2019. analmosh is a software, tool, and instrument created by the artist. It produces real-time audio and visuals by processing audio samples and video feedback systems. It has been used for live performance and installations. Presented at 3-Legged Dog Art and Technology Center. Photo by Matt Romein.
Castle Door, 2026. Castle Door is a theater piece in which creators Walker Caplan and Matt Romein use and abuse the conventions of confessional monologue theater while using video game engines to puppet emotive 3D avatars, aided by PowerPoint presentations and live camera feeds. Fantasies are corrupted by hijacked imaginations, bodies are mediated through digital boundaries, and emotions are misinterpreted again and again and again. Photo by Yung-Hung Sung.
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