Bas van Koolwijk and Gert-Jan Prins in Chicago

From Lampo:

GERT-JAN PRINS
BAS VAN KOOLWIJK
SAT NOV 6 8pm
Graham Foundation
Madlener House
4 West Burton Place
Admission FREE
Reservations are required
Co-presented with the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts

This evening, Lampo and the Graham Foundation team up to present Synchronator, a stunning audiovisual project by Dutch artists Bas van Koolwijk and Gert-Jan Prins. The collaborative work is a continuation on medium specific experiments between image and sound from the early years of video art.

Together Van Koolwijk and Prins set out to solve a problem: how to record complicated, merged and distorted video and audio signals, and then have those signals accepted by current video equipment. Needless to say, their solution suits us fine. In performance they improvise with live signals, cross-wiring image and sound. It’s everything wrong but in all the right ways.

The duo developed Synchronator during a 2006 research residency at Impakt. Since then they have presented their work at a range of international screenings, released a DVD, and issued the first commercial edition of the Synchronator box, a device for translating three channels of audio input into RGB video.

Bas van Koolwijk (b. 1966, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) works with video errors and digital code to create sound and image interactions. He uses self-made software and hardware applications in live performances, installations and video compositions. He has appeared at media art festivals worldwide, including Impakt in the Netherlands,
Mutek in Canada, Netmage in Italy, Avanto in Finland, European Media Art Festival in Germany and Courtisane in Belgium. From 2003 to 2006 Van Koolwijk was part of Umatic, a small group of Dutch artists working in the different fields of net-, video- and sound art. He lives in Utrecht.

Gert-Jan Prins (b. 1961, IJmuiden, The Netherlands) is a self-taught artist who focuses on the sonic and musical qualities of electronic noise. In his work, Prins makes connections with modern electronic club culture, occupying a radical position with his investigation of electronic sound and its relationship to the visual. Current projects include M.I.M.E.O. (the 12-piece Movement in Music Electronic Orchestra) and a duo with Tomas Korber. Prins first appeared at Lampo in April 2004, when he performed an extended version of “Risk,” (Mego) his solo project for electronics, customized transmitters, television and AM/FM radio.