episode 4 - Matt Cosper and the bravery of uncertainty

Matt Cosper and I sat down at Goodyear Arts in Charlotte, NC in January to discuss legacies, mentors, the importance of continuing training, and the act of leaning into the unknown. As a director and theater maker, he reminds us that there is magic in coming together to experience art as a community, and that obsessively studied gestures can develop into rituals of meaning. With Matt’s work, he invites artists and audiences alike to boldly venture into vulnerability, sit with discomfort, and to learn from listening to the room and to each other. As Matt says, “Let’s not know together.”

Matt Cosper is an artist and educator working at the intersection of performance and ritual. He has served as Artistic Director of experimental ensemble XOXO since it’s founding in 2009. Original works created with the company include: Mum’s The Word, i wont hurt you, P*E*R*M*A*N*E*N*C*E, #CAKE (year zero), The Children’s Crusade, Widdershins, GUF, and Bohemian Grove. Cosper was a founding curator of Charlotte’s BOOM festival and is a member of the Goodyear Arts collective. He writes on arts and culture for CLTure Blog. As an educator he served on the faculty of Spoleto Study Abroad in Umbria for three years and is Director of Theatre Arts at Charlotte Latin School.

You can follow Matt on Instagram at @mattcosper or at @briarcreekcunning where he is available for Tarot Readings and other miscellaneous sorcery. You can follow XOXO Performance Ensemble at @xoxo.clt or check them out at xoxoperformance.org.

Special thanks to Goodyear Arts for providing space for conversations and Dylan Gilbert for creating the catchy theme music. You can follow them at @goodyeararts and at @dylangilbertmusic. You can follow me (Sarah Ingel) at @singelarity or at sarahingel.com. Be sure to follow the podcast at @arttea.pod or send an email to arttea.pod@gmail.com

Cheers!