David Tann

David Tann is a Fool, imaginator and innovator, exploring the intersection of innovation and creativity. He is a trained clown, inter-disciplinary artist, writer and fire dancer. Alumnus of Ecolé Philippe Gaulier. He collaborates across fields to develop the experiential application of theory with imagination. His practice harnesses clowning pedagogy, improvisation, shamanism, academic research and teaching artistry. His research is interested in the Fool, biomimicry, esotericism, cybernetics, sacred geometry and systems thinking.

David founded Arcane Fools with a purpose of enabling access to potentiality with the art of imagination. With his company, David develops soft-skills and provides B2B creativity. He works with grassroots self-organisation in decentralised communities to explore governance, tech and AI. He has produced workshop retreats for professionals from over 30+ countries. Previously an art-collective co-producer and artistic director of an international theatre company, David has performed over 5 continents at festivals, crisis zones and conferences.

David is 'Fool in Residence' and affiliated researcher at the Center Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussels. He uses artistic perspective to unravel new ways to visualise, experience, and understand scientific hypotheses, bringing fresh dynamism to the process of scientific discovery. David applies the art of the Fool, clowning and play to further develop processes to catalyse the application of research at CLEA.