Dan Acher, artivist

Dan Acher


Dan Acher is an Ashoka Fellow and the founder of Happy City Lab; central to his work is art as generator of social change across local and global communities.

Dan’s large-scale installations and new ‘city rituals’ allow strangers to come together beyond what may divide them. He uses cities as playgrounds in which citizens of all backgrounds can connect and engage with the key issues of our time.

Latest news

BOREALIS lights up Hong Kong skies

Every night for three weeks straight, BOREALIS brings the Northern Lights to the people of Hong Kong at SerendiCity – a media arts festival showcasing new perspectives on art, urban environments, people and technology.

Europe is Burning – Geneva on fire

After several consecutive summers of record heatwaves, drought and fatal forest fires across Greece, Italy, France…, how long before your own city burns? This flash installation in central Geneva brings home the reality of extreme weather incidents reaching places we previously thought invulnerable.

Borealis on tour : US premiere at Boston’s MIT

Borealis continues its spellbinding tour around the globe. The installation has most recently been to Australia, the UAE and several cities in France, Belgium and the UK. Now due to premiere in the US at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s upcoming Science Festival 6-9th October 2022.

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Tour Dates

Upcoming – Check this space for updates

BOREALIS

Daylesford (Melbourne), Australia, July 20 – Oct 1
Surfers Paradise, Australia, October 6 – 15
Shenzhen, China, Oct 20 – Nov 9
Bullring/Birmingham, UK, November 3 – 12
Bolton, UK, November 30 – Dec 2
Ivry-sur-Seine, France, December 16
Montpellier, France, Dec 21 – 22

Previous

2023

#ThisIsImportant

Salon du livre de Genève, Switzerland, March 2023

#PointOfView (Life Upside Down)

Salon du livre de Genève, Switzerland, March 2023

BOREALIS

Seoul, South Korea, August – September 2023
Centennial Vineyards (Sydney), NSW, Australia, May – June 2023
SerendiCity, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong, Feb – March 2023

 

2022

SECRETS

Tombées de la nuit, Rennes, France, Jan 2022

DES-ESPOIRS

Geneva, Switzerland, July 2022

Europe Is Burning

Bains des Pâquis, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 2022

BOREALIS

Nightfall Light Festival, Middlesbrough, UK, Dec 2022
Biennale des Imaginaires numériques, Aix-en-Provence, France, Nov 2022
Bram Stoker Festival, Dublin, Ireland, Oct 2022
MIT, Cambridge Science Festival, MA, USA, Oct 2022
Lieux Publics, Marseille, France, Sept 2022
Daylesford, Australia, July – Sept 2022
Coup de chauffe, Cognac, France, Sept 2022
Paris l’été, France, July 2022
Nuits de Fourvière, Villeurbanne / Lyon, France, July 2022
Millénaire de Caen, France, May 2022
Suwon, Korea, March – April 2022
Gluttony, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia, Feb – March 2022
The Awakening, Hull, UK, March 2022
Lux Helsinki, Finland, January 2022
Geneva, Switzerland, Dec 2021 – January 2022

2021

WE ARE WATCHING

FIFDH, Geneva, Switzerland, March 2021
Greenwich & Docklands Int. Festival, London, UK, August 2021
Hounslow, UK, Sep 2021
Doncaster, UK, Oct 2021
Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, UK, Oct 2021
COP26, Glasgow, UK, Nov 2021

BOREALIS

Winter Lights, Let’s do London, UK, December 2021
Abu Dhabi, UAE, December 2021
Bradford is LIT, Bradford, UK, November 2021
Mars, Mons, Belgium, October 2021
Zomer van Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium, August 2021
Greenwich & Docklands Int. Festival, London, UK, August 2021
Tombées de la nuit, Rennes, France, July 2021
Gluttony, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia, Feb – March 2021

 

2020

BOREALIS

Silbersalz Science & Media Festival, Halle, Germany, Octobre 2020
Bega! Festival, Timisoara, Romania, Octobre 2020
Paris l’Été, Paris, France, July 2020

 

2019

WE ARE WATCHING

COP25, Madrid, Spain, Nov-Dec 2019

You Are Welcome In

Global 2019

Street Light Orchestra

OSR, Geneva, Nov 2019
OSR, Lausanne, Nov 2019

BOREALIS

GLOW Festival, Surfers Paradise, Australia, August 2019
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR), Geneva, Switzerland, July 2019
Perth Winter Fest, Australia, June 2019
Sydney, Australia, May 2019
Tower Of London, UK, April 2019

 

2018

BOREALIS

Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia, February 2018

 

2017

#CECIESTIMPORTANT

Nuit des musées, Musée de l’Élysée, No 2017

Street Light Orchestra

Morat Light Festival, Morat, Switzerland, Jan 2017

Teenage Suicide

Children action, Geneva, Switzerland, Sep 2017

BOREALIS

Tokyo, Japan, November 2017

 

2016

Genome – All kinds of humans

TEDX, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 2016

Urban Rodeo

Nyon, June 2016

L’Escale

Geneva, Switzerland, July 2016

Digital Neuron

HUG, Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 2016

Swiss Reflections

Euro 2016, Paris, France, July 2016

In Bed With A Book

Lausanne City Council’s Library and Archives department, Lausanne, Switzerland, April 2016

BOREALIS

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, November 2016

 

2015

Street Light Orchestra

Fête de la musique, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2015
Nyon, Switzerland, Nov 2015

Life Upside Down

Festival Printemps Carougeois, mai 2015, Carouge
AGM, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2015

Urban Rodeo

Vision Art Festival, Crans-Montana, Aug 2015

The Lost Piano

Play Me I’m Yours, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2015

Turn Me On

Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 2015

 

2014

Turn Me On

Vernier Street Art, Geneva, Switzerland, No 2014

Touch ‘n’ Dance

Fête de la Danse, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2014

Life Upside Down

Ours magazine, Geneva, Switzerland, Oct 2014