Nicolas Collins

Nicolas Collins serves as Guest Faculty for the Sound Studies and Sonic Arts Master of Arts program at Berlin University of the Arts while concurrently holding a Professor position in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1999. His prior European engagements include Visiting Artistic Directorship at Amsterdam's Stichting STEIM and DAAD composer residency in Berlin during the 1990s, alongside 20 years as Editor-in-Chief of the Leonardo Music Journal (1997-2017).

His pioneering work centers on electronic music creation through hardware hacking and circuit bending, characterized by innovative integration of microcomputers in live performance alongside homemade electronic circuitry and acoustic instruments. The globally influential Routledge publication Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking established foundational methodologies for experimental music practitioners, significantly shaping contemporary electronic music education and performance practices worldwide.