Daan Johan

Daan Johan is an artist who explores the technology from the past to create new instruments, often with a form of sculptural value and craftsmanship.

Starting out in graphic design at St. Lucas in Boxtel, he soon got interested in electronic music. After making electronic music for a while, he soon realized that the technology behind the music was of greater interest to him. Since 1997 he’s been exploring the guts of analog synthesizers, lab equipment, and hifi equipment to create unique and often unexplored forms of sound creation. First by means of circuit bending, and later, after some studying and experimenting, by modifying and creating his own mechanical and electronic equipment. Using these techniques together with software, he started creating interactive installations. At the same time he kept on drawing and made his first steps into stop motion animation.

In 2006 he entered the Image & Sound / ArtScience program at the Royal Academy of Art and the Royal Conservatory, where he received his BFA in 2010 and earned his MFA at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2012.

Since then he tries to blur the boundaries between engineers and artists. His main focus is still on creating instruments and installations with the interface as a starting point and making unique instruments for other performing artists.