Gert-Jan Prins (1961) started out as a rock drummer, continued as an improviser, and since the 90s has focused on producing and manipulating sound, using a collection of custom-built machines. His work is known for its rich, rhythmic feedback. Current collaborations include E-RAX (with Lehn, Van Bergen, Dolleman),The Flirts (with Cor Fuhler), MIMEO, and the Vacuum Boys, he played with Lee Ranaldo, Pita, Fennesz, Anne la Berge, Domenico Sciajno, Luc Houtkamp and Misha Mengelberg.
 
Synchronator is the most recent audio-visual research project undertaken by Dutch artists Bas van Koolwijk and Gert-Jan Prins. They are investigating the technical and ontological limits of video signal processing with a stripped down aesthetic and formalist intentions. Together they have developed a piece of hardware for interpreting audio as a video signal, which is used in performance. The performances are stripped down masterpieces of minimal rhythmism, visual and audio fused into a single synaesthetic experience. Fans of Carston Nicolai’s Telefunken will appreciate this idea realized as a live performance.
 
Synchronator was conceived when the two artists found they were working on strikingly similar projects after submitting their works to a 2005 event at the Dutch Media Art Institute in Amsterdam. Although Prins works with analogue electronics and Van Koolwijk with digital equipment, there was no question that they should collaborate, sharing technical knowledge with the aim of merging audio and video signals.
 
> www.gjp.info/synchronator.htm
 
Appearances:
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