Gert-Jan Prins
[NL]
Dutch experimentalist Gert-Jan Prins, has been manipulating sound since the 1980s beginning with industrial free-jazz group Gorgonzola Legs. Initially a free jazz percussionist, Prins now focuses on electronic noise, and custom built transmitters and receivers that produce complex feedback loops. Prins is a member of the twelve-piece MIMEO orchestra and the A/V Synchronator project.
Born in 1961 in the Netherlands, Prins has been challenging the field of noise for almost 20 years, linking performance art, percussion, and environmental influences. He is also interested in the relationship of the visual to the heard, as can be seen in a recent project “Black Smoking Mirror", for instance, which uses a flammable canvas and laser to explore reflection and memory via the light engravings. His “Synchronator” color controller project with Bas van Koolwijk, mixes two channels of sound into an RGB triphonic signal, allowing manipulation. Prints and van Koolwijk hold workshops and performances using the technology, reminiscent of early video art.
Prins collaborates with synthesizer players Thomas Lehn and Thomas Ankersmit, pianist Cor Fuhler (The Flirts) and the composer and reed player Peter van Bergen. His work also includes regular involvement with Amsterdam’s STEIM (Studio for Electro- Instrumental Music).
