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

█ INHERENT CROSSING @A Promise of Hope – Stille Auktion zu Gunsten von Jane Goodall | 20.11. – 24.11.2020

█ OTTO&WILLI -Und die Beeren am Fluss @WEMAKEIT | until 25.11.2020

█ TO THE DOG, TO THE HUMAN, TO US order @DEARS magazine for transversal writing practices

█ INHERENT CROSSING @Norm – It’s not complicated | 14.10. – 4.12.2020 | gallery l’élac | Lausanne

█ DOGS (limited poster edition) @lapin-canard.xyz

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

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

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

DOGS is a research project started in 2017. The project investigates the connection between intimacy and co-evolution in human-dog-relationships. It examines different approaches to the co-existence with dogs – looking at various ways of living together with dogs in diverse geographical contexts. The project furthermore looks at the personal transformation of Farok – a Belgian shepherd – and Benjamin Egger.

Benjamin Egger and Farok, 2020

Installation view, 20 watercolors (62,5 x 88cm), 2020

Installation view with Farok, 20 watercolors (62,5 x 88cm), 2020

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

My body is because of dogs, snippet, Video, HD, 14’10”, 2020

DOGS (GPS-tracking data, blue: Cäcilie, pet dog, Munich, yellow: Dinkus, stray dog, New Delhi), 841 x 1189 mm, pigmented inkjet print, 2019
get your poster @lapin-canard.xyz

Interviewees, left: Susanne and Neo, Munich, 2018, right: Mitashi, Vyshali and Malu, New Delhi, 2018

First flashmob of the dogs of Munich, press release and poster of the demonstration, Munich, 2018

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

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

INTERVENING ZEMO NIKOZI is an installation in the public space of the Georgian village of Zemo Nikozi. During the period of political elections, posters are attached on the fences of the properties. On the posters there are pictures of different domesticated animals of Zemo Nikozi as if they are watching the passers-by.

Installation view, Zemo Nikozi, Giorgia, 2016

Installation view, Zemo Nikozi, Giorgia, 2016

«JENSEITS DER DIFFERENZ» [Beyond Difference] is published on the website P-ART-ICIPATE.NET and is a written conversation between Marcel Bleuler and Benjamin Egger about collaborations with amateurs and nonhuman animals.

STOKES, theatrical performance with amateurs, Theatre of the Arts, Zurich, 2013

DISPLAYING HUMANS is a curatorial project realized at CORNER COLLEGE in Zurich. The exhibition emerges from questions about the concept of the human body in relation to the cultural construction of the nonhuman animal and its body. The exhibition shows artistic works as well as found-footage material of amateurs. The audience could also take part in the workshop «How to Act Like an Animal» by Rachel Mayeri, a cricket-concert through structure-borne sound waves by Séverine Urwyler and a lecture about the collaboration with plants by Trevor Yeung.

Workshop, How to Act Like an Animal, Rachel Mayeri, Zürich, 2015

Exhibition view, LadyLila12, Wie tanzt man richtig in der Disco?, Corner College, Zurich, 2015

Exhibition view, Corner College, Zurich, 2015

Exhibition view, Mike The Intern, What my dog does when I leave., Corner College, Zurich, 2015

Performance INTOPIA, Séverine Urwyler, Corner College, Zurich, 2015