Hi, I’m Matthias, the hallucinator and creator of The Psychehedron. It feels strange to write that sentence as my views are fairly agnostic. If I’m to be totally honest, my meditations on what happened to me twenty eight years ago remain a constant thought-companion. I’m willing to accept that my mind generated something jaw-droppingly complex and supposedly sentient. I’m also willing to consider that I actually did encounter an alien-type intelligence, which felt the need to communicate a secret of the universe, as I happened to be there when it had nothing better to do.

My journey as an artist has been a very wiggly path and process, although I found myself with an entirely different career to the one I should have been in, art has always been my close companion. In this light, I have perhaps been fortunate to have the luxury of producing what I want on my own terms, without anyone bothering me for results. During the 2020 pandemic and lockdown conditions, a fortunate series of events which began with me buying a Playstation 4 and accompanying PSVR headset, rapidly escalated into a second VR headset purchase, then applying to Bristol UWE to do a masters degree in VR/XR Storytelling. It was either that or doing an NVQ in construction management. I hadn’t dreamt of becoming a construction manager for four decades of my life, so the obvious thing to do, would be to follow what actually makes me tick and makes me happy. I believe that I’ve made the right decision.

This academic year has been one of the most creative and sometimes maddening years of my life. I had an idea that doing a degree would be intense, I just had no clue as to how intense.

I’ve learnt a lot during this year, about creating VR experiences and the ethical framework which should underlie the thought processes in making them. I’ve also learnt that I am persistent and driven to create and produce, that I can handle the stress when the going gets tough, that you can learn a whole bunch of new tech skills in mid-life. I think I’ve ultimately learnt that I was always meant to do this.

Matthias

December 2021