Matthias A. K. Zimmermann
1981– · Swiss writer, painter and new media artist
Matthias Alexander Kristian Zimmermann (born 1981 in Basel) is a Swiss writer, painter and new media artist. He grew up in the canton of Aargau and studied music composition, fine art, game design and pedagogy, a training that shows in work combining painting, narrative and reflection on the digital. His pictorial work, which he calls "Model Worlds", has been shown in international exhibitions and is held in several museum collections.
His paintings, made on canvas or built digitally and presented as Diasec prints, mix visual languages from digital space, medieval icon painting, Japanese gardens and Buddhist symbolism. Each image follows a modular system akin to a construction kit or puzzle, and preparatory sketches can take months or years. His painting technique borrows the look of computer imagery, while his digital pictures often recall classical painting. The series "The Space Machine" divides its content into six layers, from energy to source code, to show how digital worlds are built.
As a novelist, he published "Kryonium" (Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2019), whose modular structure parallels his images. His work has been discussed in academic essays and in the art book "Digital Modernity" (Hirmer, 2018), placing him at the crossroads of painting, technology and contemporary narrative.