Hans W. Koch (b. 1962) studied music, history and physics at the University of Weingarten/ Wuerttberg and 1988-95 composition at the Cologne University of music with Johannes Fritsch. Besides developing performances and open forms for various, often interdisciplinary ensembles, he creates (sound-)installations. The search for hidden aspects of everyday-tools, like household- electronics, hairdryers, metalwool, old computers leads as a side-effect to sounds and musical structures. On the other hand when working with digital media, he tries to explore its boundaries and implicit (de)faults, in order to arrive at interactions which live a life of their own and react to human input in an unpredictable way. This also extends to the use of computers as musical instruments in a rather physical manner.

The result of his research has been presented on international festivals, most recently (2008): Escena contemporanea, Madrid, Club transmediale, Berlin, Hovikodden live, Oslo, the 4th Annual Bent Festival and the Ceait-festival, Los Angeles, the Utsa satelite space gallery, San Antonio, Texas, Experimental Intermedia, New York, Safe and sound, Belgrade.

In 1998 he was awarded the Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann scholarship of the City of Cologne, in 2000 a residency at the international sculpturers’ symposion in Lindabrunn, Austria, in 2002 at the Villa Aurora, Los Angeles. In 2003 he was invited to Tokyo by Puddles - international artists-exchange program. During spring semester 2007 he was teaching composition and experimental sound practices as visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles. In 2008 his piece The benchmark consort won an award of distinction at the Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria.