About Me
Kim Hong-do, A Scholar Playing the Pipa, late 18th century, ink and color on paper
Jaehoon Choi is a New York City based artist focused on novel musical instrument making and a scholar interrogating a broader notion of organology. Novel musical instrument making involves designing and crafting instruments from scratch and creating music/artworks that are inseparable from their very construction. In his work, the instrument is not merely a functional device: it becomes an intricate assemblage of epistemological and cultural dynamics expressed through materiality.
His works were presented at CLEAT Series, La Biennale di Venezia 2023 - 67th International Festival of Contemporary Music, NEW INC DEMODAY, Fabrica, MATA Festival, SEAMUS, San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Routledge, NIME, ICMC, ECHO Journal, ZER01NE Day, and etc. He has been selected for various residencies and awards including Djerassi Resident Artists Program, NEW INC, Squeaky Wheel Workspace Residency, Biennale College Musica, Zer01ne and etc.
Education
2021–2026Ph.D. in Electronic Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
2018–2020M.A. in Music Science and Technology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2016–2018B.S. in Information Systems, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
- dual degree with SungKyunKwan University, Seoul
- dual degree with SungKyunKwan University, Seoul
Residencies
2026.10-12NARS Foundation International Residency, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY (forthcoming)
2026.08TAK LAB, TAK Ensemble, New York, NY (forthcoming)
- Expanded Practice and Creative Technologies track
- Expanded Practice and Creative Technologies track
2025.07Darmstadt Ferienkurse 2025, Darmstadt, Germany
- Composer
- Composer
2024.10Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA
2024.04Squeaky Wheel Workspace Residency, Buffalo, NY
2023Biennale College Musica 2023, Venice, Italy
- Primary mentor: Miller Puckette
- Primary mentor: Miller Puckette
2022–2023NEW INC, New Museum, New York, NY
- Art & Code track
- Art & Code track
2021Zer01ne, Hyundai Motors Group, Seoul, South Korea
2020Art Center Nabi, Seoul, South Korea
Grants and Awards
2026Brooklyn Arts Fund, Brooklyn Arts Council
- with Yeseul Song and Joe Johnson
- with Yeseul Song and Joe Johnson
2026Creative Engagement Grant, LMCC
- with Yeseul Song and Joe Johnson
- with Yeseul Song and Joe Johnson
2024–2025HASS Fellowship, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2024Finalist, MA/IN Festival, Italy
2023International Residency Grant, Arts Council Korea
2022Production Grant, Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture
- with Minyoung Kim
- with Minyoung Kim
2020Music & Sound Art Research Grant, Seoul Art Space Mullae
Performances
2026.04CLEAT Series — Elastic Arts, Chicago, IL
2026.03Splice Festival VII — Colby College, Waterville, ME
2025.05ISEA 2025 — Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea
2025.03overdrive festival — Elebash Recital Hall, New York, NY
2024.09Speculative Sound Synthesis Symposium 2024 — IEM, Graz, Austria
2024.06NYCEMF 2024 — Sheen Center, New York, NY
2024.03Brushing Improvisation – N°2 — EMPAC, Troy, NY
2024.02SEAMUS 2024 — CT::SWaM — Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2023.10La Biennale di Venezia 2023 — 67th International Festival of Contemporary Music — Tese dei Soppalchi, Venice, Italy
2023.06MATA Festival 2023 — Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn, NY
2023.01San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2023 — Victoria Theatre, San Francisco, CA
2022.12Ecos Urbanos Festival 2022 — EMPAC, Troy, NY
2019.04CEMEC — UCSD, San Diego, CA
Exhibitions
2024.04sein und zeit — Fabrica, Villorba, Treviso, Italy
2023.06NEW INC DEMO 2023 — Art & Code Track Showcase — Dunkunsthalle, New York, NY
2023.05Hello. hEllo! heLLo? hellO public showcase — EMPAC, Troy, NY
2022.09Giant Whisper, duo exhibition — C.ENTER, Seoul
- with Minyoung Kim
- with Minyoung Kim
2022.05Between the Waves — Collar Works, Troy, NY
2021.11ZER01NE Day — Seoul, South Korea
- with Minyoung Kim
- with Minyoung Kim
2021.07International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) — Santiago, Chile
- online due to Covid
- online due to Covid
2020.12Nabi Art Center Year-End Exhibition — Nabi Art Center, Seoul
Publications
2026Choi, Jaehoon. “Media Specificity in Novel Musical Instrument Making: An Inverted Perspective,” ECHO, a journal of music, thought and technology, Issue 8, forthcoming 2026.
2025Choi, Jaehoon. “Max - Expansion From a Programming Paradigm to a Community Discourse Lab,” in The Routledge Handbook to Rethinking the History of Technology-based Music, edited by Jøran Rudi and Monty Adkins, Routledge, 2025.
2025Choi, Jaehoon. “The Media Materiality of Max: Rhizomatic Organology and the Genealogy of Abstractions,” in PdMaxCon, 2025.
2023Choi, Jaehoon. “Brushing Interface - DIY multi-touch interface for expressive gestural performance,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2023.
2023Choi, Jaehoon. “Drifting: Integrating Embodied Practice and Making As a Compositional Process,” Performance Philosophy 8(1): ECHO #5, 2023.
2022Choi, Jaehoon. “Brushing II,” ECHO, a journal of music, thought and technology, Issue 3, 2022.
Talks and Lectures
2026.04Guest lecture for the Digital Musical Instrument Design class, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
2025.09Choi, Jaehoon. “The Media Materiality of Max: Rhizomatic Organology and the Genealogy of Abstractions,” in PdMaxCon, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
2025.03Guest lecture at Art & Technology program of Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
2025.03Artist talk at Integrated Media Arts MFA program of Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY
2024.04Artist talk with Spring 2024 Squeaky Wheel Workspace artist residents, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY
2024.02Rainforest IV installation panel talk, Reembodied Sound Symposium 2024, EMPAC, Troy, NY
2023.06Choi, Jaehoon. NEW INC DEMO 2023, New Museum, New York, NY
2023.05Choi, Jaehoon. “Brushing Interface - DIY multi-touch interface for expressive gestural performance,” International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Mexico City, Mexico
2022.06Choi, Jaehoon. “Max - Expansion From a Programming Paradigm to a Distributed Lab,” Rethinking the History of Technology-based Music Conference, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK
- doi: 10.5920/ProgrammingParadigm
- doi: 10.5920/ProgrammingParadigm
2022.06Choi, Jaehoon. “Drifting - Designing and Babbling a Deep Timbre Space,” Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2021.09Choi, Jaehoon. “Brushing III. Creation of DIY interfaces for art practices,” TETRAMATYKA Festival, Lviv, Ukraine
2017.11Choi, Jaehoon. “The Influence of Digital Technology on Music Creation by Electronic Musicians,” HASTAC 2017, Orlando, FL
Press
2024“Tre Soldi — 4. Diversi approcci alla musica contemporanea” — Rai Radio 3
2023“Brushing Improvisation – N°2 — 67. Biennale Musica” — Venezia News
2023“Biennale Musica 2023: Highlights, the microscopic nature of sound” — CLOT Magazine
2023“Biennale Musica 2023” — AllAboutJazz
2023“Biennale Musica 2023: Micro-Music” — La Biennale di Venezia
2023“Works from the 2022–23 Art & Code cohort” — Rhizome
2023“RPI Graduate Student Premiers New Work at Venice Biennale” — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Service
2026Reviewer, ICMC 2026
2025Reviewer, PdMaxCon25~
2025Reviewer, ICMC 2025
2025Reviewer, NIME 2025
2022Reviewer, ICMC 2022
Consulting and Production
2024.05–06Sound Designer, public art project by Yeseul Song, Gansong Art Museum, Daegu, South Korea
2024.02Production Assistant, Reembodied Sound Symposium 2024, EMPAC, Troy, NY
- Worked on the production of Rainforest IV with Jon Driscoll, Phil Edelstein, and undergraduate students from the ‘Music and Technology II’ class
- Worked on the production of Rainforest IV with Jon Driscoll, Phil Edelstein, and undergraduate students from the ‘Music and Technology II’ class
2022.05Project Consultant, Expanded Instrument System (EIS) project
- Worked on implementing the UI part of EIS in Max
- Worked on implementing the UI part of EIS in Max
2017.06–07IDEO, OMI Summer Lab Fellowship, Cambridge, MA
Workshops
2024.04How to make a DIY force-sensitive resistor (FSR) sensor — Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY