Amsterdam-based Touki Delphine (Bo Koek, Rik Elstgeest, Chris Doyle and John van Oostrum) is a boundary-pushing collective of musicians, performers and visual artists. We create monumental light and sound installations from discarded materials, exploring the relationship between humans, nature and technology through immersive musical experiences. Inspired by natural systems, the climate crisis and the idea of nature as a living whole, we imagine a future in which people, nature and technology collaborate rather than compete, and where waste can be transformed into something meaningful, alive and beautiful.
That vision feels more urgent than ever. In a time of ecological exhaustion, technological alienation and social fragmentation, we believe there is a growing need for physical, sensory and collective experiences. Through our work, we explore how technology can not only distance us, but also reconnect us, creating poetic encounters between humans and machines.
Our installations transform discarded materials into living musical ecosystems. In FIREBIRD, more than 600 recycled taillights form a hypnotic orchestra of light and sound. In RELAY we use 1848 turn signal relays to generate rhythm and harmony, with MACHINE, we transformed a second-hand plant-potting machine into the drummer of an ensemble. TRANSMISSION mimics an underground fungal network through miles of salvaged wiring and pneumatic tubing. DRIFTING is built from thrifted ethernet cables, windshield washer reservoirs and recycled pump motors. And in our latest work, SUPERDRUM, second-hand drums, wooden branches and car door lock mechanisms come together in a monumental percussive machine.
During live performances, musicians enter into dialogue with the installations, allowing each work to continuously evolve and come alive.
Chris Doyle (1988) is a pianist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Seal Harbor, Maine (USA).
Following his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA) and McGill University in Montreal (CA), Doyle moved to New York City in 2013. Working as a freelance musician, he gradually began splitting his time between New York and Amsterdam and first collaborated with Touki Delphine in 2017, joining the group officially in 2019. Outside of Touki Delphine, Doyle continues to work as a freelance musician and composer in both The Netherlands and US. He released two solo piano albums; “For Afie” was released on Excelsior Records in 2023, and “Piano Songs 2” (in collaboration with composer Danny Fisher-Lochhead) on Fishkill Records in 2019. He performs regularly with Meral Polat, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly, Awkward i, Sheila and the Kit, Katherine Perkins, Danny Fisher-Lochhead, Tczeebo, and Eckhardt and the House, and numerous others including the Grammy-nominated Brooklyn afrobeat collective Antibalas.
Bo Koek (1980) is an artist, musician and performer from Roelofarendsveen (NL).
Koek studied classical percussion and Image&Sound at the interfaculty of royal conservatory / academy of fine arts in The Hague, and graduated cum laude in 2003.
He is a founding member Touki Delphine, art rock band Kopna Kopna and synthpop group Sheila and the Kit.
Koek has worked since 2004 with internationally acclaimed artists and groups such as Mocky, Benny Sings, Alamo Race Track, Gerry Arling and BinkBeats.
He has created music and sound for music theater performances from Wunderbaum, De Warme Winkel, Johan Simons, Pieter Kramer, Paul Koek, Theun Mosk, Kammerspiele Munchen, Schauspielhaus Bochum, de Theateralliantie, Nt Gent and De Veenfabriek.
Koek also co-runs Studio Delphine in Amsterdam (NL) where music is created for movies, television series, podcasts and webseries.
John van Oostrum (1979) is a musician, visual artist and scenographer from Noordwijk (NL).
At the age of eight, John was allowed to play with the depth gauge of his father’s boat. This device uses echolocation to determine the distance from the floor of a body of water to the bottom of a boat. Although the device was quickly destroyed, John now had a red light to spin around his room. Many devices would follow. John started playing guitar in a band when he was 12; a band which later became Touki Delphine (They go way back!).
1999 – Following high school, John found a place where it is appreciated if you break materials (or social issues) apart, strip them of their original function or context, perhaps revealing a poetic quality. This place is the ArtScience study, an interfaculty of the Art Academy and the Conservatory of The Hague (NL).
2004 – Upon completing his studies, John was involved in the establishment of the Veenfabriek and Touki Delphine; Two music theater companies where he continues to practice and deepen his love for music and crafts.
Rik Elstgeest (1979) is a percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Amsterdam (NL).
Upon completion of his study in classical percussion (cum laude) at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 2003, Elstgeest founded the collective Touki Delphine together with Bo Koek and John van Oostrum and became official members of the Veenfabriek music-theater group in 2005. In the following years was Elstgeest active domestically and internationally with bands Kopna Kopna, Ghosttrucker, Track and Alamo Race Track. In 2011 he left the Veenfabriek to focus on music composition and production for film and television. Often together with Gerry Arling (and occasionally Bo Koek) he composed music for the youth series Dr Cheezy, Van God Los, Alleen op de Wereld, Voetbalmeisjes, De Wilde Ruimte, and most recently the critically acclaimed Lampje. Elstgeest has also released three albums as a solo-artist under the moniker Eckhardt and the House and reached millions of listeners worldwide via Spotify and radio play.
“The members of Touki Delphine present a mix of music, visual arts and digital projection.
However, those who reason that their material is made up of sound, histrionics and performance, are equally correct.”
– de Volkskrant
Annelies de Bruine
Business
Lisa Groot
Head of Marketing
Nynke Kimmel
Junior Marketing
Oscar van Raaij
Technical
Sarah Frankland
International Producer
Anilda da Cruz
Board Chair
Janneke Godschalk
Board Treasurer
Daphne de Heer
Board Member