DAVID DRAGAN
ABOUT
 David Dragan (b. 2001, Sibiu, Romania) is a Swiss-based artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores the intersections of memory, trauma, identity, and transformation. With a background in dance and theatre, David’s work spans video, performance, sound, and installation, creating environments that challenge the fugitive nature of time and the embodied traces of generational histories. Through the movement of bodies, the weight of memory is both expressed and suspended in the present, offering a space where past and future exist in constant dialogue.

Central to David's practice is the physicality of performance, where the body becomes a vessel for both personal and collective trauma, navigating between moments of stillness and motion. Their work reflects a tension between what is remembered and what is forgotten, addressing the scars—both mental and physical—that are carried through generations. With a particular focus on queer existence, mental health, and the intimate language of the body, David's pieces speak to the ways in which memories are held in even the smallest gesture. 

Drawing inspiration from romanian myths, David weaves together the cultural stories of place and the raw truths of childhood and queerness in a stringent environment. These narratives are embodied through a blend of sound and movement, where electronic music pulses through the space, transforming it into a living landscape. This element, often influenced by club culture, connects the physicality of dance to the struggles and celebrations of queer survival. David’s work exists in a space where the unexpected and the unplanned can disrupt established norms, reflecting the mutability of memory and identity. Blurring boundaries between genres and forms, the work invites to an exploration of ecological and technological shifts that influence our evolution and reshape our stories.


EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/PERFORMANCES
2024

fissures of tomorrow
Topic Hub, Sibiu

Diploma 24
ZHdK, Zurich

ACT (performance festival)
Kulturfolger, Zurich

‘Cathy Josefowitz. Release’
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich

Bridge to the Castle (group show)
RUF, Vienna

I (performance)
ZHdK, Zurich

How language flows (group show)
Galerie Kunst und Buch, Zurich
2023

MIXSCAPE XII (group show)
Periode, Berlin 

Fragments (group show)
Aktionsraum ZHdK, Zurich

Mutual strangers (group show)
TENT, Rotterdam

twoeighteightninepointfour (performance)
Grote of Sint Janskerk, Schiedam

Meddling Species (performance)
underground parking lot, The Hague

Scattered (group show)
Kaskadenhalle, Zurich
2022

Dear sweet mother of god, we’re in Europe (group show)
ZHdK, Zurich

Yesterday was the day before today (group show)
Planet 5, Zurich

La Serbare (performance)
ACT Festival, Biel

Mama, I didn’t mean to make you cry (solo show)
ZHdK, Zurich

Kerzenschein (group show)
ZHdK, Zurich

 
2021

Bitte Ture immer schliessen, Merci (group show)
ZHdK, Zurich

Insight into mind (performance)
Sihlwald, Zurich