biography
“My two favorite mediums to use as an artist are acrylic paint and mindfuck.” Dadara began his artistic career in the early nineties designing flyers and record covers, and doing live-paintings for the then emerging 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 a decades-long career creating drawings, paintings, installations and performances. Since the turn of the century, his focus has shifted towards extravagant interactive performance-installations in public space. Many of these creations were built at the legendary Burning Man event in the Nevada desert, where he was the first international artist to create a big interactive installation. In 2023 he also created the visual image of Boom Festival and his Loading Love Temple got a permanent home on Boomland. Dadara also started his own bank – the Exchanghibition Bank – exploring the value of Art and Money, where visitors could exchange their money for his banknotes of Zero, Million, Infinite, and Love. Besides these type of projects he has also done many guerilla style interventions in public space. 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.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Everything is Real - especially that what we cannot see, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2024 CTRL ALT DELIRIUM, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
Here for the Art, Base Elements Gallery, Barcelona, ES
2022 Getting Lost in the Beauty of Chaos, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
Ancient Future Lifeforms, 2B Art Gallery, Mallorca, ES
2021 Men at Work - Business as Unusual, show with Jim Avignon, OD Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2020 Every journey of a thousand hearts starts with a single beat, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
I am Dream, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Life inside a Pixel, i.s.m. We Make VR, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Open your Mind, KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2014 Time = Art = Money, Midlands Art Center (MAC), Birmingham, GB
2012 Transformoney 2.0, Famous, Amsterdam, NL
2011 Last Train to the Inevitable Beyond, Famous, Amsterdam, NL
2009 Guantanamo Brain, Famous, Amsterdam, NL
2006 File Not Found, Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2005 Retrospektive, Dialekt, Stuttgart, DE
2002 Fools Ark, Famous, Amsterdam, NL
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Alexxx and the Walls we Live in, No Limits! Art Castle, Amsterdam, NL
Walls that Matter, 8Marvila, Lissabon, PT
Anzio R.I.S.E, Port of Anzio, IT
2025 Prisma, Because Art Matters, Lissabon, PT
Envisionary Art Gallery, Boom Festival, Idanha-a-Nova, PT
A Scan through Dutch Rave Culture, Door Open Space, Amsterdam, NL
IA – Intelligent Artist in the Time of Donkeys, Mahalla, Berlin, DE
KochXBos Gallery, Kunst RAI, Amsterdam, NL
Friendly Capitalism Lounge, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, DE
Street Art Zandvoort, Zandvoort, NL
2024 Momentum, Because Art Matters, Lissabon, PT
Transformational Overload, BIG ART, Amsterdam NL
KochXBos Gallery, Kunst RAI, Amsterdam, NL
Next Planet, FishArt. Participatory Art for the Ocean, UN Ocean Initiative, Port of Anzio, IT
2023 Draw me a picture, Go Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
Into Infinity, NFT-show, Openspace Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
NFT-AMS, De Bouwput, Amsterdam, NL
20th Anniversary Show,Base Elements Gallery, Barcelona, SP
Rise, Because Art Matters Gallery, Lissabon, PT
Gallery², presented by IRL Art at ETHDenver, Colorado, US
Envisionary Art Gallery in collab with Rare Effect, Boom Festival, Idanha-a-Nova, PT
2022 7.9 billion Cryptogreyman NFTproject
Reality is Overrated, curated by Dadara, Base Elements Gallery, Barcelona, SP
Cash on the Wall, Stiftung Kunstforum Berliner Volksbank, Berlijn, DE
Experience NFT, SOHO House, Barcelona, SP
Transitions, 2B Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, SP
Not For Sale, NFT project
2021 Cryptogreyman project, Physical & Digital, Koch & Bos, Amsterdam, NL
Naar de Gallemiezen - an Amsterdam Love Story, Artotel, Amsterdam, NL
Avant Groove, Base Elements Gallery, Barcelona, SP
Garden of Unity, Platoon Art Space, Seoul, KOR
2020 Atmospheres - Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, GB
2019 Big Art, Hembrugterrein, Zaandam, NL
2018 Bigger Bolder Better, Go Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
Summer of Like, Publieke Installatie, Graphic Matters, Park Valkenberg, Breda, NL
Kaapstad Festival, Publieke Installatie, Tilburg, NL
Wandelism, Wilmersdorf Berlin, DE
2016 Money does not rule our world, Platoon, Mexico City, MX
Macht, Gallery Vriend van Bavink, Amsterdam, NL
2015 #2,Platoon, Kunsthalle, Berlin, DE
2013 Remake, Platoon Kunsthalle, Berlin, DE
2013 Glastonbury Festival, Performance, Glastonbury, GB
2012 Design Column #2 - The Human Index, Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam, NL
2011 Exchanghibition Bank, MuseumN8, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, NL
2009 Salon de l’amitié, Arti et Amicitia, Amsterdam, NL
This is the end of the world, MOHS exhibit, Copenhagen, DK
2008 False Space and the Time of the Apartment, Centraltrak, Dallas, US
2007 Kunst van Geld, Geldmuseum, Utrecht, NL
2006 Design Warriors, Butter Factory, Singapore, SG
Dakart Off, Villa 7, Dakar, SN
2005 Dance is More than Music, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2004 Characters at War,Pictoplasma, Berlin, DE
2003 Urban Explorers, Planetart, Enschede, NL
2002 Liquid, Addict Lab, Brussel, BE
2000 Sculpture Biennale, Reflex Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2001 Heroes Square, Over het IJ Festival, Amsterdam, NL
PERFORMANCES / PUBLIC INTERVENTIONS / INSTALLATIONS
2023 Transformoney Tree, Public Installation and Performance, California 100, Sacramento, US
Loading Love Temple, Installation, Boom Festival, Idanha-a-Nova, PT
2021 Memorial for the Curfew, Installation & Performance, Amsterdam Ferry Festival & MuseumN8, Sexyworld, Amsterdam, NL
2020 The Artist is Not Present, Installation, Museumsquare, Amsterdam, NL
Portal to paradise, Live painting & live stream with Def P, Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
Transactions Amoureuses, Performance with Bas Kosters, Red Light District, Amsterdam
Social Distance, a Covid19 Infographic, Performance collab with Iris Kauffman, ADAM Toren, Amsterdam, NL
Life inside a Pixel, Performance, Madhouse, Theater Amsterdam, NL
2019 I am dream, #redreamyourcity, Public Installation, Museumsquare, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Solipmission, Installation & Performance, Burning Man, Nevada, US
2014 Like 4 Real, i.s.m. ISH Dance Company, Location Theater, Oerol, Terschelling, NL
2013 Like 4 Real, Installatie & Performance, Burning Man, Nevada, US
2012 Exchanghibition Bank, Opening performance, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Transformoney Tree, Installation & Performance, Burning Man, Nevada, US
2008 Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia, Installation / Performance, Burning Man, Nevada, US