Benjamin Egger is an artist and artistic researcher based in Switzerland with a focus on non-human animals.

Night vision shot of a stray puppy, Zemo Nikozi, Giorgia, 2017

AND THEN WE TOUCH shows an intimate scene between two pupplayers while opening a shimmering space between the human and the non-human animal | DCP, color, sound, 13’30”

And then we touch, screening view, 2021

And then we touch, video still, 2021

And then we touch, video still, 2021

And then we touch, video still, 2021

LOLEK shows a photograph of the cat Lolek. The poster is installed in public space manifesting animal presence

Installation view, LOLEK, 115 x 115cm, solvent-print on blueback paper, Zurich, 2020

UNTITLED Series of 24 watercolors | 625 x 880 mm

Installation view, 20 watercolors, 2020

Installation view with Farok, 20 watercolors, 2020

Watercolor, 625 x 880 mm, 2020

MY BODY IS BECAUSE OF DOGS shows a group of stray dogs in the city of New Delhi at night. The dogs occupy a space normally dominated by humans. From the off they are accompanied by a voice formulating thoughts on the relationship between dogs and humans and between humans and dogs | HD, color, sound, 14′ 10”

My body is because of dogs, installation view, VEE, Hof Blum, Samstagern, 2020

My body is because of dogs, video still, 2020

My body is because of dogs, video still, 2020

My body is because of dogs, video still, 2020

DOGS shows the GPS-tracking data of the pet dog Cäcilie living in Munich and the stray dog Dinkus from New Delhi | Pigmented inkjet print | 841 x 1189 mm | The edition is available at lapin-canard.xyz

DOGS, 2019

INHERENT CROSSING is a research project that started in 2012 and was published online: inherent-crossing.net in 2017. It investigates the self-motivated handling of painting implements among the sixteen chimpanzees of the Walter Zoo Gossau

Mojo, Gossau, Switzerland, 2015

Installation view, 98 manifestations (140203/140701-2), 2020

Installation view, Madschabu_140626, Norm – It’s not complicated, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, 2020

Installation view, Museum of Anthropology, Zurich, April 2016 until April 2017

Symposium, Art an Evolutionary Approach, University of Zurich, 2016

Installation view, Day of Research, Zurich University of the Arts, 2015

Manifestation by Blacky, Gossau, Switzerland, 2014

WOFF is a party-series that considers party as a collective space of playful disorientation. Invented by Benjamin Egger for the non-profit artspaces of Zurich, the parties now are organized by Benjamin Egger, Gregory Hari, Esther Kempf, Monica Germann and Luca Büchler. They take place in a playfully decorated environment in different locations in Zurich and each time focus on a theme related to the particular date.

WOFFWOFFWOFFWOFFWOFFWOFFWOFFWOFF – The Dancing On My Own Edition, Shedhalle Zurich, 31 August 2019

The essay «AN DER GRENZE ZUR ANDERSARTIGKEIT – MÖGLICHKEITEN EINER SPEZIESÜBERGREIFENDEN KOMMUNIKATION» [At the Border to Otherness – The Potential of Cross-Species Communication] is published in the book ent/grenzen – Künstlerische und kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf Grenzräume, Migration und Ungleichheit [un/bordered – artistic perspectives on border areas, migration and inequality] and elaborates on the potential of a cross-species communication on the base of practical experiences with animals.

Benjamin Egger on a pony, 1989

The essay «DER STEIN FÄLLT NICHT WEIT VOM STAMM» [The Stone Does Not Fall From The Tree], published in the book HOLY SHIT, reflects on the spirituality of animals. Considering evidence of stone-throwing chimpanzees, it contemplates the field of ritualized actions and their manifestations in the world of nonhuman animals.

Illustration by Selina Bächli, 2016