Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.  Studied photo- and cinematography, and worked as a photographer, editor and producer for various photo-, film-, video- and theaterproductions.

Her films, video’s and installations explore the impact of detailed changes in moment, movement, matter, light and perception.

“With links to the tradition of structural film making, the work by the Brussels based film-and videomaker, Els van Riel, explores the basic elements for cinema -time and light- and develops a form for new esthetical pleasure, bypassing any symbolism and narratism. For van Riel the projector is a central figure in the cinematographical act of giving form to a screening, performance or installation. The mechanical image source becomes actively present as if it were a living object.”
(L’ART MÊME, April 2009)

Chiyoko Szlavnics is a composer and saxophonist working both in Europe and Canada. After graduating from the University of Toronto in 1989, she was a member of Hemispheres Music Projects (1992-1997) and 40 fingers saxophone quartet (1994-1998), contributing several compositions to both ensembles.During that period, she studied composition with James Tenney in Toronto. Szlavnics’ works have been performed at numerous festivals and concerts by ensembles which include Arraymusic, Surplus (Éclat Festival, Stuttgart), Quartett Avance (Darmstadt), and New Music Concerts. Since receiving a year-long Fellowship Grant from the Akademie Schloß Solitude in 1997 (Juror: Christian Wolff), Szlavnics has been based in Berlin, where she continues to work with contemporary ensembles and musicians, with a particular focus on microtonality and just intonation.