John Duncan was born on 17 June 1953 in Wichita, Kansas. He studied at the California Institute of the Arts, and after meeting Allan Kaprow, who pointed him towards the Actionists and the music of Kagel, Reich and Oliveros, he left painting behind for good. The performances he began staging in Los Angeles in 1975 were built to confront their audience, and some of them are still argued over.
He was part of the Los Angeles Free Music Society in C.V. Massage and The Doo-Dooettes. His sound work is assembled largely from shortwave radio, field recordings and voice, and the wider body of work takes in installation, video and experimental film. He has lived and worked in Europe for decades.
