DAIM | |
|---|---|
Reisser in front of his walltaping, 2011 | |
| Born | Mirko Reisser 1971 (age 54–55) |
| Education | Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland |
| Known for |
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| Movement | Hip hop culture |
| Website | daim |
DAIM (German pronunciation: [daːiːm], like the coin dime; born 1971 as Mirko Reisser) is a German graffiti artist who lives and works in Hamburg. He is particularly known for his large-size, 3D-style graffiti works. This has become known as his trademark. For his technically sophisticated style he obtained the reputation of being one of the best graffiti artists in the world.
In 1989, Reisser created his first works, still under the name CAZA in those days, which he kept until 1992. He began doing commissioned pieces in 1990. In 1991, right after he graduated from secondary school, Reisser began to work as a freelance artist and renamed himself DAIM. In 1996, he began taking the fine arts program at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. In 1999, Reisser founded the studio collaboration getting-up in Hamburg together with artists Gerrit Peters and Heiko Zahlmann. The artist collective has been realizing internationally noticed projects together for more than fifteen years. During his artistic career, Reisser has travelled to many parts of the world and taken part in a multitude of museum and gallery exhibitions. He has also given birth to many art projects, several of them as an initiator and co-organizer.
DAIM has been represented by the gallery ReinkingProjekte in Hamburg, Germany since 2005. As of 2010, he is also represented by the gallery MaxWeberSixFriedrich in Munich, Germany.
At the beginning of the 1990s, DAIM developed his 3D-style: The artist gained publicity with his trademark of creating the four letters of his name in three-dimensional style. Outlines that are commonly used in graffiti cannot be seen in this style. In fact, by applying light and shadow effects, the colours are placed in such a way that one gets the impression the letters are floating in the air and are tangible. DAIM had been making photorealistic drawings also before his career in graffiti and was influenced by artists like Salvador Dalí and Vincent van Gogh to not place outlines, but rather create forms with shadings and thus present them three-dimensionally.
Reduction is initially the last word that one would attribute to the works of the artist. But, relating to the choice of his motive, this expression is definitely appropriate. Reisser depicts in his works the four letters of his writer's name – DAIM.
"DAIM lets his letters collapse, disrupt, be torn to tatters, yes downright despatter, as if their sight was only possible in a precious millisecond. Then again, it seems the other way round, as if the letter arrangement of hardly obvious, complex structures is in a condition of formation, shortly before being finished to add up to a whole. The programme of DAIM comprises both: the construction and the deconstruction of a word – somewhere in the pulse beat between erasure and remaining it emerges in a synaesthetic sphere, the WORD: It arises from nothing and threatens to vanish there again; but in the moment, in which it constitutes itself, it seems as if it would act independently, free and detached from the burden of content, that it actually should transport..."
— Arne Rautenberg: Pimp My Word. In: Volltext Magazine. No. 4, 2007, pg 6.
The artist succeeds in constructing letters as an architect constructs form:
"By deconstructing typography and lettering, today's tech-savy writers such as JOKER, DELTA and DAIM are in an exciting position. They straddle the deconstructive world of Derrida, who questioned meaning, and that of architects like Lebbeus Woods, Thom Mayne and Zaha Hadid, who question form. The result is a hybrid "typogritecture", where letters are organized, reorganized, and sculpted in three-dimensional space without the surface constraints forced upon writers who rely on the city and street. This isn't to say that writers are no longer dependent on traditional letterforms – they are. By revealing the elemental core of letter formation, artists obsessed with breaking them apart pay reverence to time-tested forms while simultaneously keeping them fresh and lively."
— Ian Lynam: Traveling the Paths of Urban Pioneers. In: Font Magazine. No. 005, 2006, p. 14.
Reisser's works try to put the beholder under a spell and meanwhile, following the creative, dionysian body of thought, search for the transgression of limits. On the contrary, the works are full of clarity, orderliness, and structure. The transgression of limits that is reached through the works becomes a self-discovery and the works ultimately become self-portraits.
"My writings are self portraits"
— Mirko Reisser: DAIM - Creative from time to time. In: Stylefile Magazin. No. 17, March 2005.
Besides using the classic spray can, in 2007 DAIM also began taping his works with adhesive tape, creating sculptures, 3D objects, works on paper, digital works, and giclée fine art prints.
Reisser was born in Lüneburg. he created his first piece together with Björn Warns – nowadays known as Schiffmeister from the German hip-hop group Fettes Brot – on a feeder pillar behind the yard of his parents' house. DAIM, in those days still working under his writer's name CAZA, sprayed his first, still illegal graffiti works during a time when, after a few arrests in Hamburg, a low phase dominated the scene. Therefore, he knew few other taggers at first and would absorb every trick he could pick up. American influences played a role, especially after a few trips to the US, but the artist's first book about graffiti was Graffiti Live – Die Züge gehören uns. Reisser's style was thus also much influenced by European and German taggers. He was fascinated by the styles of Loomit, Skena, and Zebster, which could be seen in an article about the flea markets of Munich in Stern magazine. During the first two years of his career, he first got to know Hesh and Loomit. Hesh became his partner for several years.
DAIM did his first wall paintings illegally; he was caught once as a 17-year-old in Hamburg and later in New York City. In 1995, DAIM, Hesh, and New York graffiti artist Per One got caught while spraying on a wall of the basketball court of elementary school 107 in the Bronx. The artists had to face charges for property damage, trespassing, and possession of graffiti material. Possible sentences varied from community service to one year in jail, as reported by the spokesperson of the prosecution, Charisse Campbell. They got released after the hearing, however, as authorization for the installation had been requested by an art teacher in the run-up to the spraying.

DAIM is a cofounder of tcd (trash-can design), the first crew that the artist was a part of. One of the most renowned crews that DAIM is a member of is the American FX crew. In 1996, DAIM was invited to New York and was accepted into the crew. He is also a member of fbi (Fabulous Bomb Inability), suk (Stick-Up Kids), es (Evil Sons), and gbf (Gummibärchenfront).
In 2006, DAIM was one of the artists invited to the sculpture project sculpture@CityNord in Hamburg. One of the curators of this exhibition was Rik Reinking. In 2009, he participated in ARTotale of the Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, where 36 international street artists were invited to the city. Furthermore, DAIM has realised projects for Opel (with Lena Meyer-Landrut) and Volvo (Volvo Art Session 2011 and 2013). He is also one of the initiators of the Urban Discipline exhibitions.
The Urban Discipline exhibitions, held from 2000 to 2002 in Hamburg, are among the most important graffiti exhibitions worldwide. In 2000, Mirko Reisser, in cooperation with Gerrit Peters and Heiko Zahlmann, planned and organized the first one of these exhibitions. In an interview, Os Gêmeos, famous twin-brother graffiti artists from Brazil, called it a great project. Urban Discipline had been one of the first and still remains one of the biggest graffiti exhibitions that had ever been arranged. It also helped artists like Daniel Man and Banksy to take the next step in their career. At a time when graffiti was not merely scribbling anymore but also not taken seriously yet, to those organizing the event it was important to establish it as an actual art form. The first exhibition brought international stars of the graffiti scene to Hamburg. The most important representatives of the international graffiti and street art scene returned to Hamburg for the next two years. In 2001, next to Os Gêmeos from Brazil and Martha Cooper from New York, artists from all over Germany as well as Brazil, Austria, France, America, and Switzerland exhibited their works in the Alte Postsortierhalle in Hamburg. In 2002, 34 international artists came together to exhibit in the Astra-Hallen in St. Pauli.
"We've lead the discussion, if graffiti actually is art, very intensely at the latest in 2002 at the Urban Discipline exhibition. This was also a reason to organize this exhibition. We wanted to establish a forum and lead a discussion on the topic, how graffiti changes when canvas is used as a medium for it or when it is exhibited. In the end you can't define this in general. But as a result it was pretty clear – and this has already been my opinion – that graffiti can't be art automatically. [...] Art has to be defined by something different than just by technique."
— Mirko Reisser (DAIM) in: DAIM - der Profi. Backspin Magazin. Nr. 95, July–August 2008, p.5.
Two other well-known projects by Reisser were developed in cooperation with the agency Jung von Matt/Next: Tagged in Motion and Nextwall. For Nextwall, DAIM and other graffiti artists created a mural. Later interactive elements such as QR Codes and object recognition were inserted, which allowed people to transfer information to mobile devices. Tagged in Motion, meanwhile, was an experiment to connect augmented reality and graffiti. Using 3D-glasses, it was possible for Reisser to spray his works into space and watch them three-dimensionally. The video, posted on YouTube, received over 500,000 clicks within the first few days.
For two-and-a-half years, Mirko Reisser and Heiko Zahlmann worked in cooperation with Lothar Knode as artistic directors for the project Dock-Art. The piece, which measured 2,000 m2, was revealed in 2001 vis-à-vis the Landungsbrücken in the Hamburg Harbour at the outside wall of the shipyard's Blohm + Voss Dock 10.
In the context of Mural Global, a worldwide mural art project for Agenda 21, DAIM realized a 300 m2 mural in São Paulo together with Brazilian graffiti artists Os Gêmeos, Vitché, Herbert Baglione, and Nina Pandolfo as well as the German graffiti artists Loomit, Codeak, and Tasek in 2001. The mural is located under a viaduct of the Beneficência-Portuguesa-hospital on Avenida 23 de Maio and comprises the topics of air, earth, water, and fire.
80 murals were created within the scope of Mural Global, an initiative of Farbfieber e.V. Düsseldorf, under the patronage of UNESCO. The project was awarded with the Innovationspreis Soziokultur 2002 of Fonds Soziokultur.

Mirko Reisser also acted as the artistic director for Sign of the Times. The work got an entry in the Guinness World Records for the highest graffiti in the world. Together with Darco, Loomit, and others, and under the organisational lead of Lothar Knode, the piece, with an overall wall-space of 300 m2, was realised on a skyscraper in Hamburg-Lohbrügge in December 1995. The artists working on the 30-meter high and 11-meter wide artwork used 1,000 spray cans. Besides its impressive height, the work also inspired awe with its exciting composition of script and pictorial elements, as well as citations from other art masterpieces.
DAIM is represented in the following art collections (selection):
In 2001, DAIM travelled to many countries worldwide as part of a graffiti world tour. Among the countries he visited were Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, and the USA. He has also travelled extensively on other occasions, which has led to international recognition; his works have left lasting impressions on various local scenes.
Although the USA is most commonly known as the cradle of graffiti, American artists have also been influenced by European styles. BG138 from Tats Crew confirmed in an interview that Europe was more advanced in some aspects, among those also being the 3D-style and a cooperative working process – both of which have been shaped by DAIM and Loomit. DAIM has realized works in Los Angeles and Miami, among other cities in the USA. Crome, an artist from Miami, has commented on getting to know DAIM and Loomit and being impressed by how much planning was involved in their working process. In this way, the graffiti could be finished on location at a much faster pace. After meeting these famous European artists, Crome also began to plan his works in advance. He also talked about the insights into proportions that he got from the Europeans. The artist Pest from Miami talks about DAIM and Loomit bringing the first Belton cans there, which changed the colour palette of local artists.
DAIM has also left his mark in Argentina: The Argentinian graffiti scene started to develop at the beginning of the 1990s. A big part of this development happened through the influence of travelling artists. Central figures were the Brazilian twin brothers Os Gêmeos, who are credited with bringing graffiti to Argentina during one of their stays in 1992. Furthermore, local artists were influenced by graffiti they saw on their journeys to Europe and brought back those impressions to their home country. In 2001, DAIM travelled to Buenos Aires. At this time there were a maximum of 20 acknowledged graffiti artists in the city, but with advanced access to the Internet and the launch of the first national graffiti homepage, it was expected that this number would soon rise. DAIM's influence can also be seen in Europe, for example in Switzerland, where Reisser moved for his studies in 1996, as well as in Greece.
German: Der Kurator Rik Reinking hat mit viel Kenntnisreichtum die Auswahl der Künstler vorgenommen. Es nehmen teil: Ash, Herbert Bablione, Boxi, Brad Downey, Ben Eine, Faith47, Boris Hoppek, Mark Jenkins, JR, Os Gemeos, Mirko Reisser (DAIM), Swoon, Zezao.
Participating artists: Akim, Ash, Herbert Baglione, Banksy, Blu, Boxi, Bronco, Dave the Chimp, Brad Downey, Ben Eine, Shepard Fairey, Mark Jenkins, Kaws, Daniel Man, Miss Van, Mode 2, Os Gêmeos, Mirko Reisser [DAIM], Space Invader, Swoon, DTagno, Tilt, Vitché, Heiko Zahlmann, Zevs, Zezão
German: Mit seinem dreidimensionalen Stil, durch den seine Bilder beinahe greifbar werden, hat DAIM die Graffiti-Kunst revolutioniert.
In the summer of 1995 DAIM, and HESH came to New York. They were introduced to the other members of FX by POEM and where asked to be down.
Daim und Loomit – zwei Namen, die weit über die Graffiti-Szene hinaus bekannt sind. Für den neuen Opel Corsa haben die Künstler mehrere Motive gestaltet, auf denen es einiges zu entdecken gibt.
Vergangenes Wochenende (9. Februar bis 13. Februar 2011) gestalteten 10 Künstler im Züricher Hauptbahnhof im Namen der Volvo Art Session einen neuen VOLVO S60. Jeder Künstler durfte einen halben Tag seiner Fantasie freien Lauf lassen. Mit dabei: C-Cline, Yummy Industries, Daim, Pius Portmann, Donovan & Onur, Blackyard, Nevercrew, Lowrider, Sukibamboo und Wes21. Ein erstes Zeitraffer Video nach dem Jump, mehr Fotos folgen.
It was a very important show for us. One of the biggest opportunities. We met amazing writers from Germany and all over Europe. Everyone brought their own history to Urban Discipline. It was such a great thing to bring a little piece of Os Gemeos from Brazil and show what we believe in and how we live down here. We remember that some people didn't understand what we did there in this exhibition, some of them even didn't know that graffiti had become a big thing in Brazil too. The organizers Daim, Tasek, Daddy Cool, Stohead and the others, we remember how hard they worked on that show and we know how hard it was to make it happen. The whole process was a good thing, everyone helped each other, no competition, all harmony gathered in one place. We still got a lot of love and respect for thit great project. We think it was one of the first exhibitions combining graffiti from the streets and bringing it to a gallery space, with style and professional presentation. This show was one of the biggest shows in Europe and many artists did some first important steps there, Daniel Man, Daim, Banksy and so many more.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)Richtig ernstgenommen wird Graffiti aber weiterhin nicht. Die Organisatoren der Hamburger Ausstellung Urban Discipline kämpfen für die Anerkennung von Graffiti als Kunstform. Das ist zwar nicht neu, verlangt aber ständige Neubetrachtung und Diskussion
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)Im Rahmen der "nextwall" habe ich in Kooperation mit der Agentur Jung von Matt/next das Projekt "Tagged in Motion" realisiert. Wir haben dieses als ein erstes Experiment verstanden, Graffiti und Augmented reality zu kombinieren. Für mich eine völlig neue Erfahrung, etwas in den Raum "zu sprühen" und sich dabei um das entstandene Objekt herum bewegen und sogar hinein gehen zu können. Natürlich ist dies erst ein Anfang solche Techniken zu entwickeln und zu perfektionieren. Die riesige Resonanz (die YouTube Videos wurden über 1 Million mal angeschaut) zeigt, dass dieses Thema viele Leute interessiert. Ich glaube allerdings, dass dies zwar auch für Graffiti eine interessante neue Facette bedeutet, aber natürlich nie die Umsetzung eines real gesprühten Bildes ersetzen könnte.
künstler / sammlung Mirko Reisser (DAIM), Ingeborg Lüscher, Beverly Pepper ...
Accueil » Collections » Rechercher dans les collections » sculpture. Sculpture en béton représentant un graffiti sur une flêche pointant à gauche. en bleu, jaune, orange et turquoise. Elle représente la signature de l'auteur: Daim
Accueil » Collections » Rechercher dans les collections » affiche. Darco, Daim et Hesh ont participé à l'oeuvre
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)The exhibitions includes works of art by, among others: Till F. E. Haupt (DE), Mirko Reisser alias DAIM (DE), Rainer Splitt (DE), Banksy, (UK), ZEVS (FR), Otavio og Gustavo Pandolfo alias Os Gêmeos (BRA), Santiago Sierra (ESP), Katsuhiro Saiki (JP), Liam Gillick (GB), Barbara Kruger (USA), Toshiya Kobayashi (JP), Tony Ousler (USA) and Nan Goldin (USA)
Artists: Blek Le Rat, Chaz Bojorquez, Cope 2, Cornbread, DAIM...
Cast: Askew, Caib, Caligula, Can2, DAIM...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)