Jef Mertens

Jef Mertens is a Belgian musician and documentary filmmaker from Geel who has spent close to two decades researching and documenting experimental music in Belgium and elsewhere. His own records are rooted in improvisation, first with guitar and shruti box and later with the taishogoto, a Japanese stringed instrument. He is also known for his film on the American noise group Borbetomagus. Mertens, who taught himself filmmaking, directed Borbetomagus: A Pollock of Sound (2016), a feature-length documentary on the band, with appearances by Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano and Byron Coley.