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.
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
…