Daniel Malone spent 1991- 92 at the Elam School of Fine Arts and two years between 1993 and 1995 travelling in North and Central America and Europe and he has subsequently travelled regularly in Asia.

Daniel was also a founding member in 1992 and paid administrator from 1996-97, for TESTSTRIP, Aotearoa New Zealands first Artist Run Gallery, and is one of five artists and critics who founded Cuckoo in 2001, a Contemporary Arts project working transiently through existing galleries, and Gambia Castle in 2007, Aotearoa New Zealands first Artist Run Dealer Gallery. Awarded 1st place in the 2001 Art Waikato National Contemporary Art Awards by Jim Barr and Mary Barr.

In 2002, he took a break from solo exhibiting to concentrate on projects including recording a hip-hop album and consolidating own label, AoAtearoa Records and spending five months studying Mandarin at Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.

Daniel was also a lecturer in Photography and Contextual Studies at the Manukau Institute of Technology, School of Art and Design from 1998 to 2001. In 2003, he took a position as lecturer in Intermedia (Time Based Arts) and later in 2004 also in Sculpture, at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. Currently he holds position as Discipline Head of Time Based Arts at Elam.