Dadara or Daniel Rozenberg (born 8 February 1969,

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

artist of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

ancestry known for his flyers, paintings,

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

work. Son of renowned

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus ( ...

Grzegorz Rozenberg Grzegorz Rozenberg (born 14 March 1942, Warsaw) is a Polish and Dutch computer scientist. His primary research areas are natural computing, formal language and automata theory, graph transformations, and concurrent systems. He is referre ...

Biography

After finishing high school in 1986, Dadara briefly studied mechanical engineering at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

, after which he studied at the Free Academy Psychopolis in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

, the Academy of Industrial Design in Eindhoven, and the Academy of Visual Design in

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

(

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

), before graduating from the

Willem de Kooning Academy The Willem de Kooning Academy ( nl, Willem de Kooning Academie) is a Dutch academy of media, art, design, leisure and education based in Rotterdam. It was named after one of its most famous alumni, Dutch fine artist Willem de Kooning. Overview ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in 1992.

After completing studies, Dadara started designing flyers, live-paintings and record covers for the then upcoming international electronic

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture in the late 1970s, as DJs began altering ...

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, an

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 from the Swedish state. Absolut is one of the largest brand ...

ad, a

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...

campaign, invited artist for

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were exp ...

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, and a 70 meters long

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

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

transparency Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still ...

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

issues, and regulations, and on the other hand value creation, money, and

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, al ...

Projects

Greyman

In 1999 Dadara built his first big public sculpture: the 9 meters high Greyman Statue of No Liberty in front of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Sted ...

in Amsterdam. This marked the beginning of the production and design of more big public pieces, which over time became more interactive, combining theatrical aspects with the use of multi-media.

Fools ark

In 2002 Dadara built a wooden threemaster, the Fools Ark, which was built during the Over het IJ festival in the old Amsterdam NDSM

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance an ...

, then was used as mainstage for Mystery Land, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to be burned at the Burning Man festival in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

. After its burn the Fools Ark rose like a Phoenix from its ashes to be burnt again on the island of

Terschelling Terschelling (; fry, Skylge; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland. Wadden Islanders are kn ...

during the Oerol festival ('continuing its journey through the clouds, granting wishes and desires to all aboard....'). Footage of the Fools Ark and next year's Grey man project was intertwined into an audio-visual journey through forgotten worlds to tell the tale behind the project, resulting in the part documentary/ part animated movie "Fall and Rise of the Fools Ark". The music on the DVD Fall and Rise of the Fools ark"DVD Fall and Rise of the Fools ark"
''NoTV Visual music DVD 005''. 23 September 2004. was composed by

Lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

Love, Peace, and Terror tank

In 2007 a big pink

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

was built on a

rooftop A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempe ...

in the center of Amsterdam as part of the Love, Peace and Terror project, which was later blown to pieces with

explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

in an act of aesthetic visual terrorism.

Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia

During his artist in residence period at

CentralTrak The University of Texas at Dallas (also referred to as UT Dallas or UTD) is a public research university in the University of Texas System. The University of Texas at Dallas main campus is located in Richardson, Texas. The University of Texas at ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

2008–2009,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, Dadara worked on Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia, a

border control Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

checkpoint Checkpoint may refer to: Places * Border checkpoint, a place on the land border between two states where travellers and/or goods are inspected * Security checkpoint, erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary co ...

to enter your own Dreams, which could be experienced in

and

before crossing borders itself, after which it was resurrected at the

Lowlands Festival A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise (commonly called Lowlands or Lowlands Festival), is an annual three-day music and performing arts festival, held in the Netherlands. The festival is held east of Amsterdam in Biddinghuizen, at Spijk en Bre ...

and destroyed in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in an old swimming pool, where the walls between dreams and reality were smashed with

chainsaws A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruni ...

and sledgehammers twenty years after the Berlin Wall came crumbling down.

Exchanghibition Bank and Pool of Plenty

In 2010, Dadara started working on the Pool of Plenty project: a pool filled with millions of money bills, bundled in stacks. A closer look at the pool will reveal that the bills in the pool are not real money, but pieces of aesthetically pleasing art. The pool will be protected by security guards so not one of the bills can be removed. Visitors who do want a bill though, can buy or rather exchange one at a bank initiated by Dadara – the Exchanghibition bank. This bank will take form as a traveling exchange booth. Amsterdam Central Station and Paradiso are two of the pop-up locations. The project links to a dedicated blog about the value of art and money. In August 2012, the Exchanghibition Bank travelled to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, an event based on the principle of a gift economy, where no money changes hands. The Exchangibition Bank gifted people a zero banknote in exchange for the signing of a "Spiritual Karma Laundering Contract." The project was featured i
Rolling Stone

References

External links

Official Dadara website and blogAbsolut DadaraLove, Peace, and TerrorCheckpoint Dreamyourtopia on I love BerlinCheckpoint Dreamyourtopia slideshowArt as Money blogExchanghibition bank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dadara 1969 births Living people Album-cover and concert-poster artists Contemporary painters Dutch painters Dutch male painters Willem de Kooning Academy alumni