hans w. koch (born 1962) studied music, history and physics at the university of education weingarten/wuerttberg and composition at the cologne university of music with johannes fritsch. he lives and works (mostly) in cologne.

besides developing performances and open forms for various, often interdisciplinary ensembles, he creates (sound-)installations, sometimes involving computers and digital media. the search for hidden aspects of everyday tools, such as household electronics, hairdryers, metal wool, old computers (and traditional instruments as well) takes place alongside his explorations of sounds and musical structures. when working with digital media, he explores boundaries and implicit (de)faults, in order to arrive at interactions that keep lives of their own and react to human input in unpredictable ways. this also extends to his use of computers as musical instruments in a rather physical manner.

art in general for him is sculpturing thoughts in different materials. personally he prefers conceptual approaches: more thought, less material.

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.