Dan Acher
Artivist, Founder & Creative Director, Happy City Lab
Dan Acher is an international artivist based in Switzerland, an Ashoka Fellow and the founder of Happy City Lab. He uses cities as playgrounds to create a sense of belonging and community. At the center of his work is art as generator of social change across local and global communities; his city-wide installations create spaces where strangers come together and connect beyond their differences.
Dan has travelled widely exploring various cultures. He's regularly invited to lead workshops and give talks on his work, which has featured in The Guardian, Slate, Vice/Creators Project, Mashable, UN Today, Financial Times and Creative Review amongst other international media.
More on his founding vision in this 2017 TEDx talk.
Selected talks & conferences
Horasis Global Meeting, 2021
ChangeNow, Paris 2021
ChangeNow, Ashoka stage, Paris 2020
Jeune Chambre Economique, Lyon 2019
Social Impact Days, Russia, Moscow and Yaroslavl 2018
Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre – University of South Australia, Bringing the Human Back to the City, Adelaide 2018
Thrive 2020, From Surviving to Thriving, Guernsey 2017
Grenoble Alpes University, Promising conference, Grenoble 2016
TEDx, Interface/Interact, Lausanne 2015
BMW Foundation, Social Impact Days, Georgia & Armenia 2015
Crea Jam Days, Berlin 2015
Lift Conference, Geneva 2015
G21 Swisstainability Forum, IMD Lausanne 2015
Global Entrepreneur Week, Geneva 2015
Creative Mornings, Geneva 2013
Selected lectures/teaching
HEG Genève, DAS in sustainable communication, Geneva 2016-2021
HES Genève, Social entreprises, Geneva 2016-2021
EESP Lausanne, New types of participative and immersive events, Lausanne 2014, 2017-2021
La Sorbonne, MA in Art in Public Spaces, Paris 2015
HEAD Geneva
– Centre de formation professionnelle arts appliqués 2015-16
– Communication visuelle 2015
– Design et développement durable 2014
HEG Fribourg, Marketing Communication, 2014
HESGE, Economie sociale et solidaire, Geneva 2015