Field of Activity
Dirk Koy teaches the conception and realization of animation sequences with sound, from the design to the finished 2D/3D animation. The development of an independent visual language in the context of the moving image and the appropriate choice of recording and presentation techniques are at the center of his teaching.
Bioagraphy
Dirk Koy, born in 1977, is a Basel-based artist active in various fields of moving image creation. After studying visual communication at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, which he completed in 2002, Dirk Koy worked at KMS-Team Munich in the field of graphic design and animation and then cofounded the visual communication studio Equipo in 2007. In 2016 he founded the experimental film studio Dirk Koy Bild und Bewegung.
His works lie at the junction between a graphic, photographic and video approach anchored in the tangible and a digital work. They propose to experience the meeting of the real world with a virtual universe, of the analogical with the digital, while revealing the pictorial quality of digital contexts. The plurality of digital technologies employed by Koy in the realization of his works, such as 2d and 3d animation, drones, photogrammetry, 3d scanning, augmented reality and virtual reality, as well as the manipulation of the various parameters of operating software whose limits he tests, attest to his interest in experimentation. In his works representing distortions of the real world through these different digital processes, he thus gives a singular view of everyday life.
Koy’s works have been shown at the Art Center Nabi in Seoul, at the HEK (Haus der elektronischen Künste) Basel, at the festival «Supernova» in Denver or at the FILE Festival in São Paulo. He was awarded prizes such as the Prix Ars Electronica (2012), the Visual Music Awards (2015), the Basel Media Art Prize (2019) and the Prix du film «Off-Limits» (Annecy, 2022) for his animations and videos.
Exhibitions (selection)
2024
- Stalla Madulain, December 28, 2024 – March 03, 2025, group exhibition
- «Unified Contrasts», Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein, December 2, 2024 – May 3, 2025, group exhibition
- «Digital Witness», Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 24, 2024 – July 13, 2025, group exhibition
- Mesh Festival für Kunst und Technologie, Münchenstein/Basel, October 16 – 20, group exhibition
- Film My Design Festival, Cairo, October 3 – October 12, group exhibition
- «Unleashed», Tinguely Museum, Basel, October 3 – 20, group exhibition
- Artifice 003, New York, September 7, group exhibition
- Los Angeles Public Library, September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025, group exhibition
- Re-MIX Aargauer Kunsthaus, August 30 – October 27, group exhibition
- RGBMTL, Montreal, Canada, August 24, group exhibition
- ZAZ10TS, New York, Timesquare, August 1 – September 11, group exhibition
- «Materiality», Praxis Artspace, South Australia, July 11 – August 10, group exhibition
- Kunsthaus Baselland, June 11, group exhibition
- MIT School of Engineering, Massachusetts, June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025, group exhibition
- Sphere, Las Vegas, June – December, group exhibition
- Zeitgeist, june 6 – 16, Basel, group exhibition
- Graphic Days 2024, «A Kind of Future», Turin, group exhibition
- Bildrausch, Mai 29 – June 2, Basel, group exhibition
- Athens Digital Art Festival, May 15 – 26, group exhibition
- Desina 02, Napoli 18 – 21 April, group exhibition
- Artcrushgallery, Brussels, February, group exhibition
- «Constellation», Art Up, Lille Grand Palais, February 8 – 16, group exhibition
2023
- NFT Factory Paris, December 14 – 24, represented by the Brawhaus Gallery, group exhibition
- «Beyond Basel», Trippy Labs, Miami, December 7 – 10, group exhibition
- R Haus, Miami, December 7 – 10, represented by the Brawhaus Gallery, group exhibition
- «Expanded Optics 2», Osaka, November 28 – December 3, group exhibition
- «OOO exhibitionin», Oslo, November 26, group exhibition
- «Genesthai», Paris, October 14 – 28, represented by the Brawhaus Gallery, group exhibition
- «One Night Stand», Sofia, Bulgaria, November 8, solo exhibition
- «A-Real Engine», Digital Art Festival Taipei, November 4/5/11/12, group exhibition
- «Forme d’onde 2», Cinéma Moderne, Montréal, group exhibition
- FIC (Frente de Iniciativas Contemporáneas), Villena, Spain, October18 – 22, group exhibition
- «Permissionless II», Austin, Texas, September 11 – 13, group exhibition
- «Cyberart Cinema», Lume Studios, New York, September 8, group exhibition
- Korea Blockchain Week 2023, group exhibition
- «Motion Evolving», August 11 – November 11, Bejing, group exhibition
- Neo Shibuya TV, Tokyo, July, solo exhibition
- foyer_42, video window, Basel, June – July, group exhibition
- Art center LO PATI, Amposta, Spain, Mai 21 – July 21, group exhibition
- Mire project Geneva, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, May1 – November 1, group exhibition
- MMMAD, Digital Art Festival, Madrid, Mai 9 – June 9, solo exhibition
- «Unreel», digital art in public space, Bergamo and Brescia, April – July, group exhibition
- Art center «La Collégale», Saint Pierre le Puellier, France, March 30 – May 28, group exhibition
- Gallery Arte Abierto, Mexico City, February 23 – 26, group exhibition
- OCT-LOFTcreativefestival,«Flow—Graphicsinmotion»,Beijing,November5–Januar5,groupexhibition
- NFT Paris conference, February 24 – 25, represented by the Brawhaus Gallery, group exhibition
Festivals / Screenings (selection)
2023
- Thrill Me — The Power & Magic of Music in Video Art, Switzerland
- ZumZeig Art House Cinema, Barcelona, Spain
- Punto y Raya Festival, Lisboa, Portugal
- Cutout Fest, Querétaro, Mexico
2022
- Cinematheque Rosh Pina, Israel
- Cutout Fest, Querétaro, Mexico
- 19th International Animation Film Festival Tindirindis, Lithuania
- FIIN Festival Internacional de Imagem de Natureza, Portugal
- Anination, Jerusalem internationales Animationsfestival, Israel
- InDPanda internationales Filmfestival Hong Kong, China
- Fredrikstad Animationsfestival, Norway
- Animiert! Digitale Kunst in der Alten Feuerwache Köln, Germany
- Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Labo Screening, Switzerland
- Animatou, Animationsfilmfestival Genf, Switzerland
- Fantoche 20. internationales Festival für Animationsfilm, Switzerland
- Ars Electronica Festival, Programm: «Welcome to Planet B», Austria
- Supernova, 7th Dimension, Denver, USA
- Melbourne internationales Film Festival, Australia
- Internationales Animationfilmfestival Annecy, France
- Vienna Shorts, Austria https://vimeo.com/84162988
Publications / Press (selection)
- Book: New Society, 2023, publisher: New Society, ISBN: 978-2-9590122-0-4, various works are presented
- BranD magazine, issue 68, 2023, various works are presented
- eye magazine, issue 104, June 2023, cover and report on the work
- Arte, program Tracks, September 2022, portrait
(Link)
- Same same but different, SAGW-Bulletin, issue 2, 2022, image essay
- Radiotelevisione svizzera, RSI, program Tempi Moderni, arte digitale, March 2022
- animacionparaadultos.es, July 2022, report on the work «Intersect»
- Schweizer Fernsehen, SRF1, program 10 vor 10, October 2021, potrait
(Link)
- Book: The Age of Data: Embracing Algorithms in Art & Design, 2021, publisher: Christoph Grünberger, publishing house: Niggli Verlag, ISBN: 978-3-7212-1015-6, article about the music visualization «Out of Sight»
- Book: Oh Yeah–Yello 40, 2021, publisher: Dieter Meier, Boris Blank, publishing house: Edition Patrick Frey, ISBN: 978-3-907236-35-2, images of various works
- Anthology: Transdisziplinäre Begegnungen zwischen postdigitaler Kunst und Kultureller Bildung, 2021, publisher: Judith Ackermann, Benjamin Egger, publishing house: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, ISBN: 978-3-658-32078-2 images of the work «Zürich 2.0»