Gijs Gieskes (born 1977) is a Dutch industrial designer, audiovisual artist, electronic musician, and instrument inventor based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Since the late 1990s, he has become internationally recognized for his radical and playful approach to electronics, circuit-bending, DIY instrument design, and hardware hacking, constantly blurring the boundaries between music, art, science, and technology.

Gijs Gieskes (cc)

Gijs work is rooted in experimentation, improvisation, and what could be described as a deliberately “non-expert” philosophy toward electronics. When he first began building electronic devices, he knew very little about how electronics actually worked, which led him to invent highly unconventional solutions using basic components and intuitive problem-solving. Instead of following optimized engineering principles, Gieskes embraced creative detours, accidental discoveries, absurd machines, and inefficient yet imaginative technological relationships — an approach that continues to define his practice today.

Known for combining electronics with raw materials, found objects, mechanics, and kinetic movement, Gijs Gieskes creates audiovisual systems that often feel simultaneously playful, poetic, and strangely alive. His works include self-built electronic instruments, sound toys, mechanical sequencers, visual machines, Game Boy modifications, electromechanical modular systems, and solar-powered kinetic devices. Many of his creations are distributed both as DIY kits and assembled instruments, contributing to a broader culture of open experimentation and accessible electronics.

Gijs Gieskes (cc)

Among his best-known instruments and modules are 3TrinsRGB+1c, a standalone analog audio-video synthesizer generating glitchy color patterns through control voltage signals; Analog Hard Disk, an experimental Eurorack module that reads and writes signals directly from exposed hard drive platters; the 4-Relay Module, which uses loud physical relays to generate dynamic percussive triggers and circuit interactions; and Zonneliedjes (“Solar Songs”), compact solar-powered instruments that create generative electronic melodies through changing light conditions.

His internationally exhibited works frequently embrace glitch aesthetics, mechanical randomness, low-tech processes, and anti-polished design strategies in opposition to sterile technological perfection. Alongside exhibitions, performances, artist talks, and demonstrations, Gieskes regularly leads workshops focused on experimental electronics, accessible making, sound art, and kinetic construction.

Gijs Gieskes (cc)

His work has been presented internationally in galleries, festivals, and media art contexts across Europe, the USA, Taiwan, Russia, and China, including institutions and festivals such as Ars Electronica, Sonic Acts, V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media and Vašulka Kitchen Brno, to name a few. In 2015, his work Electromechanical Modular received an honorary mention in the sound art category at the Prix Ars Electronica awards.

Web: https://gieskes.nl/

Supported by: The City of Zagreb, Ministry of Culture and Media of Republic Croatia / Kultura nova Foundation