biography Blog

Dadara began his artistic career in the early nineties designing flyers and record covers, and doing live-paintings for the then burgeoning electronic dance scene. This early work, as well as projects such as the Dadababy speakers and the Greyman Statue of No Liberty, marked the start of an impressive career as a painter, installation- and performance artist, designer, and cartoonist. Since the turn of the century, his focus has shifted towards extravagant interactive performance-installations in public space. This includes starting his own bank and creating a religion based on social media. Many of these creations were built at the legendary Burning Man event in the Nevada desert. His work is a kind of tweaked mirror which reflects our society, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Perhaps a black mirror, but one that has a rainbow at the end of the tunnel.

2024

CTRL ALT DELIRIUM, Solo show, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL

2023

Draw me a picture - Group show - Go Gallery, Amsterdam, NL

Envisionary Art Gallery - Boom Festival, Portugal

NFT-AMS - Group show - De Bouwput, Amsterdam, NL

20th Anniversary show -  Groups show - Base Elements Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

Gallery ² - presented by IRL Art at ETHDenver, Coloroda, US

Transformoney Tree, public installation, California 100, California State Capitol, Sacramento, US

2022

Getting Lost in the Beauty of Chaos - KochXBos Gallery, Amsterdam

Ancient Future Lifeforms - 2B Gallery, Mallorca

Reality is Overrated - Group show - Base Elements Gallery - Barcelona

Cash on the Wall - group show - Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank

 Envisionary Art Gallery in collab with Rare Effect, Group show, Boom Festival, PT,

 Experience NFT, Group show, SOHO House, Barcelona, SP 

2021

Men at Work - Business as Unusual - Two man show - OD Gallery - Amsterdam

Avant Groove - Group show - Base Elements Gallery - Barcelona

Naar de Gallemiezen - an Amsterdam Love Story, Group show, Amsterdam Street Art, Artotel, Amsterdam, NL

2020

I am Dream - Solo show - KochxBos Gallery - Amsterdam

Kronos Art Festival - Group show - Barcelona

2019       

Big Art, Group show, Hembrugterrein, Zaandam, NL 

2018

Life inside a Pixel - Solo exhibition - KochxBos Gallery - Amsterdam

Bigger Bolder Better - Group expo - Go Gallery - Amsterdam

Solipmission VR installation - Hotel Arena 

Summer of Like - Public Installation - Park Valkenberg - Breda, Netherlands

Kaapstad Festival - public intervention - Tilburg, Netherlands

Wandelism, Group show, Berlin, Germany

2017

Open your Mind - Solo Exhibition - KochxBos Gallery - Amsterdam

Collaboration with Marcel Wanders for the Moooi carpet collection

Solipmission installation at Burning Man, Nevada, USA

2016

Money does not rule our world - expo, talk, performance - Platoon - Mexico City

Macht - Gallery Vriend van Bavink - group expo - Amsterdam

2015

#2 - Platoon Kunsthalle - Berlin, Germany

2014

TIME = MONEY = ART - solo exhibition - MAC - Birmingham, England

Artist in Residence - BE Festival - Birmingham, England

Like 4 Real - Theatre play in collab with ISH - Oerol - Terschelling, Netherlands

2013

Like 4 Real - Installation and performance - Burning Man - Nevada, USA

TEDx Amsterdam - talk and performance - Stadsschouwburg - Amsterdam, Netherlands

2012

Transformoney 2.0 - Solo exhibition - Famous, Amsterdam

2011

Last Train to the Inevitable Beyond - Solo exhibition - Reflex Gallery - Amsterdam

2009 -  Guantanamo Brain, Famous, Amsterdam

Groeps exposities/performances/installaties (selectie):     

 

2014 - Like 4 Real talk/performance, The Next Web, Amsterdam                                                                                                                          2014 - Like 4 Real performance, Boom, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal                                                                                                                        2013 - Like 4 Real talk/performance, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam                                                                                                                        2013 - Remake Festival, Platoon Kunsthalle, Berlin                                                                                                                                              2013 - Like 4 Real installation, Burning Man, Nevada, USA                                                                                                                                         2013 – Glastonbury Festival, performance                                                                                                                                                            2013 – Exchanghibition Bank performance, Betahaus and Platoon Kunsthalle, Berlin                                                                                         2013 -  Nacht van de Filosofie – performance, installatie, lezing, Beurs van Berlage,                                                                                         2012 - Transformoney Tree, Burning Man, Nevada, VS                                                                                                                                       2012  -Staat van de Creatieve Stad, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam                                                                                                                  2012 - Boijmans Museum, Design Column, performance en lezing  , Rotterdam                                                                                                  2012 – Boom Festival, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal                                                                                                                                                    2011 – Envision Festival, Costa Rica                                                                                                                                                                     2011 - MuseumN8, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam                                                                                                                                                      2011 – Nuit Blanche, Brakke Grond, Amsterdam                                                                                      2011 –Infiltration Series, Paradiso, Amsterdam                                                                                         2011 – Palais Paradiso, Paradiso, Amsterdam                                                                                           2009 – Dreamyourtopia, Stattbad, Berlin                                                                                                    2009 – Dreamyourtopia, Centraltrak, Dallas                                                                                               2009 – Dreamyourtopia, Burning Man, Nevada                                                                                          2009 -Salon de l'amitié, Arti et Amicitia, Amsterdam                                                                                              2009 -Art car parade, Orange center, Houston, USA                                                                                     2009 -States of Exception, Centraltrak, Dallas, USA                                                                                     2009 -This is the end of the world, MOHS exhibit, Copenhagen, Denemarken                                          2008 -False Space and the Time of the Apartment, Centraltrak, Dallas, USA                                        2007 -Kunst van Geld, Geldmuseum, Utrecht (catalogus)                                                                       2007 –Love Peace Terror, L 43, Amsterdam                                                                                                    2007 - My Bar is Your Bar, interactieve installatie op verscheidene festivals

Lezingen (selectie)

2009 BRAF, San Francisco - Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas – Pecha Kucha, Amsterdam -IMA Design Village, Berlin - Architecture Slam, TU  Delft,                                                                                              2010 Kom je ook?, Mediamatic, Amsterdam - Economy Transformers, Geldmuseum, Utrecht  2011  Design Week, Eindhoven – Peer 2 Peer start-up conference, de Balie, Amsterdam            2012 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam – Creative Mornings , Utrecht – Pecha Kucha, Amsterdam        2013 Witte de With, Rotterdam, ABN AMRO Dialogues House, Amsterdam - Money Honey, Gessner Allee, Zurich, - Boijmans Museum , Rotterdam – Betahaus, Berlin, TEDx BlackRockCity, Nevada, TEDx Groningen.

Gastlessen aan de HKU, Utrecht (2013) en Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam, (2013 en 2014)

Artist in Residence                                                                                                                                           2008-2009 Centraltrak, Dallas, USA                                                                                                                                                                     2013 - ASN Bank , Den Haag                                                                                                                                                   2013  - BE Festival, Birmingham                                                                                                                       2014 - BE Festival, Birmingham

Fondsen:                                                                                                                                                                   2013 BRAF art grant, San Francisco                                                                                                              2012 BRAF art Grant , San Francisco                                                                                                                                                2010 AFK, Amsterdam                                                                                                                                        2009 Nederlandse Ambassade, Berlijn                                                                                                          2008 Netherlands- America Foundation, New York                                                                            2008BRAF Art Grant, San Francisco                                                                                                       2008Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam                                                                                                                            2007 Thuiskopiefonds                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

After finishing high school in 1986, Dadara briefly studied mechanical engineering at the Delft University of Technology, after which he studied at the Free Academy Psychopolis in The Hague, the Academy of Industrial Design in Eindhoven, and the Academy of Visual Design in Genk (Belgium), before graduating from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 1992. 

After completing studies, Dadara started designing flyerslive-paintings and record covers for the then upcoming international electronic house music scene. This included work for the RoXY club in Amsterdam, Outland Records, and the Mystery Land festival. The public recognition gained through this underground exposure led his paintings to be noticed by the Reflex Modern Art Gallery in Amsterdam, where till today he had ten solo-exhibitions, as well as exhibitions in Paris, Berlin, Stuttgart, Miami and New York City.

Commissions include baby-shaped loudspeakers for B&W,[4] an Absolut Vodka ad, a Greenpeace campaign, invited artist for Expo 2000[5] in Hannover, and a 70 meters long mural for Leiden University in the Netherlands.

In the past 10 years, Dadara mainly focused on both large interactive art projects and making paintings. The common thread throughout most of these works is that they provide a commentary on contemporary society. Topics include on one hand governmental control, lack of transparencyprivacy issues, and regulations, and on the other hand value creation, money, and dreams.