Doris Graf Email & Phone Number

The medium of drawing and the form of representation of pictograms have been an essential part of Doris Graf's art from the beginning. Later, the component of participation was added to her artistic universe.Bringing people into contact with art has been a major concern of hers ever since. For her, art is far too important to be available to just a few people. At that time, 2010-2012, she was concerned with the Internet as an increasingly important communication space. In the works "homo nudus atque apertus", she addressed the dangers of loss of identity in social networks, as well as the disembodiment and deprivation of the senses in virtual spaces. They also attracted a great deal of attention in the art world and earned her the "Digital Minds of Germany" award. From 2012, with an invitation to the CRIO Biennial in Rio de Janeiro, the long-term project CityX became part of Doris Graf's work. CityX is about the development of a modern cityscape in pictographic images, which is created in cooperation with the respective city population.Initially, residents are invited to take part in drawing activities. They draw what is important to them or what should change so that they feel better in the future. After the activities, the pictures are sorted according to themes and motifs and translated into pictographic images in a similar way to how the people drew. No two drawings in the collection are the same, but on closer inspection it becomes clear that many themes and motifs are repeated. The cityscape in pictograms is, so to speak, the condensed form of all the collected works.An exhibition at the end shows the concerns that unite a diverse urban population. It is a positive, unifying project for every city. The drawing serves as a means of communication that conveys cultural knowledge and an attitude to life regardless of language barriers.To date, CityX has been realized in 15 cities worldwide: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador da Bahia, Ulm, Stuttgart, Ostfildern, Krumbach, Kempten, Göppingen, Istanbul, Havana, Bergamo, Maputo, Chicago and Pristina.Doris Graf's art is directly interwoven with life. Her participative projects aim at a broad representation of society and participation in reflection processes in different contexts and ideally lead to food for thought for a change in various life situations.