Ben Shirken (a.k.a. Ex Wiish, Beshken) is an artist, musician, and recording engineer based in New York City. He is currently pursuing an MFA at Columbia University and holds a degree from the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU Tisch. His interdisciplinary practice contemplates how our tools for understanding and containing the world fundamentally alter our relationship with it. His work spans sound installation, film, audiovisual performance, dance, real-time AI, and recorded music, with releases on labels including Incienso, MATH, and 29 Speedway.

Shirken’s performances and compositions have been presented at a range of institutions and festivals, including Pioneer Works, Cannes Immersive, WSA, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New Museum (Rhizome), Dripping Music & Arts Festival, NYC Winter Jazz Fest, Public Records, Cafe Oto, Trauma Bar (UK), Station Gare Des Mines (FR), Long Play Festival, Hyperreality Festival (AT), and Nowadays. He is the founder of 29 Speedway, a record label, performance series, and multimedia studio focused on improvisational electronic music, multichannel sound installations, and experimental performance in nontraditional spaces.

Shirken has contributed to collaborative and commercial projects for clients and institutions such as Red Bull, Sony, RCA, MTV, Mute, Ermenegildo Zegna, Benjamin Bratton's Antikythera, The Dare, Future Classic, NNA Tapes, and Splice. He also performs and produces for and plays modular synthesizer  in the experimental free jazz ensemble Nu Jazz, alongside Dan Orlowski (Deli Girls), Jason Lindner (David Bowie’s Blackstar Orchestra), and other notable figures from the New York underground. As a DJ, he has made appearances on The Lot Radio, Dublab and various clubs.

His work has been featured in The New York Times, Art Basel, Document Journal, Resident Advisor, Dazed, Bandcamp, The Line of Best Fit, Billboard, Office, and Artnet.
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