_Roel Meelkop]

Listener first, then maker.

Roel Meelkop has been pioneering experimental music and sound art since the 1990’s, although he studied visual arts and art theory in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. During a post-graduate course he decided to dedicate his work to sound and music. His background in visual arts is important in his approach to sound: it is a raw material that has to be (de)formed and (re)constructed into something meaningful, often through the use of collage.

Meelkop’s musical activities date back to the early eighties when he started THU20 with likeminded individuals such as Jos Smolders and Frans de Waard. THU20 is best described as a sound collective, they have performed regularly in Europe and released ground breaking musical works.This period was crucial in forming Meelkop’s ideas and concepts about sound and how to organise it, but it was not until the mid nineties that he was able to fully realise these ideas. The purchase of a sampler and later a computer radically changed his possibilities of working with sound, offering infinitely more control and freedom.

Since then he has worked steadily on a body of work, most of which was recieved enthusiastically in the small but dedicated world of experimental music and sound art. He is a member of Dutch trio Kapotte Muziek and was also active in the projects GOEM and Wieman. With these projects and as a solo artist Meelkop has performed all over the world at venues and festivals, amongst which Mutek, Sonar and the LMC.

In recent years he has started collaborating with visual artists in the fields of video, film and theatre, including filmmakers Esther Urlus and André Schreuders, video artists Marco Douma and Michiel van Bakel, theatre director Tea Tupajić and choreographer Sato Endo. He is currently also investigating hybrid forms of installation/performance.

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