“Art changes technology, technology changes art.”
ATA BOZACI
(born March 3, 1974, in Burgdorf) is a Swiss artist and entrepreneur. His work encompasses drawing, painting, digital graphics, large-scale wallpainting and modular sculpture. From 1990 to 2012 his principle creative output was graffiti writing; he is known for graffiti works under the pseudonym TOAST.
LIFE AND WORK
Bozaci grew up in a working-class Turkish family. His drawing talent was already recognised in primary school. From 1990 to 1991 he undertook a foundation course at an art and design school. From 1992 to 1996 he studied in the graphics department at the Schule für Gestaltung (Design School), Bern. For his graduation work he made the first-ever sprayed comic. His desire to connect graffiti with graphics almost cost him his place studying. In 1992 he was invited to take part in a group exhibition with H. R. Giger at Art Frankfurt. In 1995 he designed the artwork for hip-hop band Fettes Brot’s album ‘Auf einem Auge blöd’. Further graphic commissions followed within the Bernese club and cultural scene, including a collaboration with the cult magazine SODA.
Bozaci graduated from his graphic design course when he was 22 and started working freelance in Bern. He produced 15 skateboard designs for Intersport in collaboration with the graphic design studio Büro Destruct.
While Bozaci was an intern at Springer & Jacoby in Hamburg, he developed a close friendship with Mirko Reisser DAIM / getting-up. In 2001 they and other artists realised a 2000 m2 graffiti installation opposite Hamburger Harbour wharf, on the exterior wall of the Blohm + Voss shipyard at Dock 10, entitled ‘Das neue Hamburg und seine Partnerstädte’ (The New Hamburg and its Twin Cities).
In 2007 Bozaci was awarded his own color by spray-paint producer Molotow, called ‘TOAST signal black’.
ARTISTIC CAREER
In the late 1990s Bozaci established the company Atalier Visual Entertainment with business partners Remy Burger and Patric Geissbühler, concentrating on online game commissions. They became the most successful firm in their sector, with Die Mobiliar, Swiss Dairy Producers and the Swiss Post among their clients. In 2004 Atalier won Bronze in the Swiss Dialogue Marketing Prize. By 2007 Bozaci left Atalier in order to work purely as an artist.
The art collector Gunter Sachs invited Bozaci, alongside Basel graffiti writer Dare, to design his apartment at the Schlosshotel Velden. Linked by the title ‘Point of View’, the artists painted six immersive pictures which merge into one complete image from just a few points of view.[6] The work was illustrated in full in the Architectural Digest (AD) magazine. For the special exhibition ‘Die Kunst ist weiblich’ about Gunter Sachs’ life and work at the Museum der bildenden Künste (Fine Art Museum) in Leipzig, Bozaci realised a large-scale picture on steel. Bozaci's collaboration with the Galerie Springmann from Freiburg began in 2008. Group exhibitions followed with Dare, Stefan Strumbel and the street art pioneer Blek le Rat. Two works from Gunter Sachs’ collection, ‘Satan in Heaven ’and ‘Black devil’ sold well above their estimates at Sotheby's auction house in London in 2012. In 2014 two further Bozaci works were auctioned at Karl&Faber in Munich.
SOLO SHOWS (SELECTION)
2023 Grinding on concrete, Bärengasse, Zürich
2023 Unexpected Interruption, Ylex, Zürich
2023 Unexpected Interruption, Bozaci Studio, Zürich
2021 Unexpected Interruption, Die Diele, Zürich
2020 4478 m ü. m., punkt 58, Zürich
2019 Lucubratio II, Privat, Zürich
2018 Lucubratio I, Privat, Zürich
2015 Fifteen seconds of fame, The Trace Gallery, Zürich
2015 Fifteen seconds of fame, Artstübli, Basel
2015 Fifteen seconds of fame, Galerie SOON, Bern
2013 Lineares Boxen, The Trace Gallery, Zürich
2011 Unexpected Playground, TheEssentialCollection, Zürich
2006 Toast, ArtCorner28, Biel
2004 Toast, Büro Discount, Zürich
2003 Buchstabenarchitektur, Hotel Berchtold, Burgdorf
GROUP SHOWS (SELECTION)
2024 Jetzt Kunst, Marzili, Bern
2020 Papers Please, Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein
2016 Lost Faces, The Trace Gallery, Zürich
2014 Behind the Red Wall, Jardin Rouge, Marrakesch
2012 Similitudes, Galerie zieglerzwei, Zürich
2012 Do Not Erase, G-Dot Art Space, Beijing
2012 Urban Art EFX, CBK, Amsterdam
2012 Die Sammlung Gunter Sachs, Museum Villa Stuck, München
2011 Urban Art Graffiti 21, Voelklinger-Hütte, Voelklingen
2011 Urban Art International, Galerie Novotny, Lörrach
2011 1st Beijing International Design Triennial, Beijing
2011 Top Marques Macau, Macau
2011 The aerosol experience, Galerie zieglerzwei, Zürich
2010 International Mural Exhibition, Dafen Art Museum, Shenzhen
2010 Rotkäppchen lackiert den Wolf, Haus der Kunst, München
2010 Public Provocations II, Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein
2009 Art Karlsruhe, Galerie Springmann, Karlsruhe
2009 DARE, TOAST, STRUMBEL, BLEK LE RAT, Galerie Mang, Lindau
2009 Public provocations I, Colab Gallery, Weil am Rhein
2009 DARE & TOAST, Kunstverein Offenburg Mittelbaden, Offenburg
2008 Urban Art, Galerie Springmann, München/Berlin
2008 Berliner Liste, Galerie Springmann, Berlin
2008 Die Kunst ist weiblich, Retrospektive Gunter Sachs, MdbK, Leipzig
2008 Totale Weiblichkeit, Galerie Springmann, Freiburg
2008 Indelible, Subtext Gallery, San Diego
2008 Point of View, Galerie Springmann, Freiburg
2005 Further playgrounds, Galerie K13, Lahr
2005 Graffiti war gestern, Xhoch4, Ingolstadt
2005 Xpresart, Girona
2004 Wordless, Dachkantine, Zürich
2002 Urban Discipline, Hamburg
2001 Aspects of graffiti 2001, Zürich
2001 Urban Discipline, Hamburg
2000 Urban Discipline, Hamburg
2000 Graffiti art Berlin, Berlin
1998 Ernst & Young, Bern
1996 Art Frankfurt, Frankfurt
PUBLIC SPACE (SELECTION)
2016 Online, Wall painting, Jardin Orange, Shenzhen
2014 Amanda, Wall painting, STAMP Festival, Hamburg
2014 David, Wall painting, Naestved
2014 Michele, Wall painting, Jardin Rouge, Marrakesch
WORKSHOPS
2023 Rendez-vous d`artistes, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva
AUCTIONS
2017 BernARTiner, Schweizerhof, Bern
2014 Moderne und Zeitgenössische Kunst, Karl & Faber, München
2012 The Gunter Sachs Collection, Sotheby’s, London
BOOKS
2021 Unexpected Interruption, selected work 2005 to 2021, Ata Bozaci, 90 pages (buy)
2015 Fifteen seconds of fame, Ata Bozaci, 148 pages (Preview PDF)
2007 Black Ink / Illustrations by Ata „Toast“ Bozaci, Publikat Verlag, 240 pages, ISBN 978-3-939566-06-9 (Preview PDF)
2005 Fadings. Graffiti to Design, Illustration and more, Publikat Verlag, ISBN 978-3-9809909-0-5
2004 ADC Jahrbuch 2004, Werd Verlag, ISBN 3-85932-464-0
2002 Graffiti Art / Deutschland, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3-89602-144-3
2002 Graffiti Art / Süddeutschland und Schweiz, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ISBN 3-89602-036-6
2002 Urban Discipline 2002 Graffiti-Art, getting-up, ISBN 3-00-009421-0
2001 Idea No. 285, nippan ips co., ltd, ISSN 0019-1299
2001 Pictoplasma, Die Gestalten Verlag, ISBN 3-931126-58-7
2001 Style Magazin 2001, style&thefamilytunes, ISSUE N°034
2000 Swiss Grafik Design, Die Gestalten Verlag, ISBN 3-931126-36-6
1999 Büro Destruct, Die Gestalten Verlag, ISBN 3-931126-24-2
COLLECTIONS
2023 Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva
2022 Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek, Bern
2018 The Gunter Sachs Collection, München
VIDEOS
2019 Zwei Street-Art-Künstler zeigen ihre neuen Werke, Glanz & Gloria (SRF)
2016 Crash test dummies, Volvo Art Session, Zürich (youtube)
2015 Speed of the city, with Pius Portmann and Harun Dogan, Volvo Art Session, Zürich (youtube)
2013 Enis Batur, Wall painting, Bomonti Mimar Sinan Universität, Istanbul (vimeo)
2012 Loosing. Eyes open, F A K T, Wall painting, Markthalle, Basel (youtube)
2007 Point of view, interior design for Gunter Sachs, Schlosshotel Velden (youtube)
CATALOGS
2023 Unexpected Interruption (Exhibition catalog PDF)
2021 4478 m ü. m. (Exhibition catalog PDF)
2019 Immersion (Exhibition catalog PDF)
2015 Fifteen seconds of fame (Exhibition catalog PDF)
2013 Lineares Boxen (Exhibition catalog PDF)
PRESS
2022 Schweizer NFT-Kunst - Die Kunst ist ein Game, das von Reichen für Reiche gemacht wird, Der Bund, 22.01.2022 (PDF)
2019 Gegen die Wand, Weltwoche Magazin Nr. 2, 2019 (PDF)
2015 Sechs Fragen an Ata Bozaci, Der Bund, 19.03.2015 (PDF)
2012 Ata Bozaci Toastone, Amateur Magazin, Issue 010, 14.04.2012 (PDF)
2012 Kunst aus dem Kokon, Tages-Anzeiger, 01.03.2012 (PDF)
2011 Off the wall, Financial Times House & Home, 15.07.2011 (PDF)
2010 Von Berner Graffitis zu Zürcher Kunst, Der Bund, 01.02.2010 (PDF)
2008 Berliner Satellitenmessen - Die Ableger des Art Forum, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 01.11.2008 (PDF)
2008 Wo, bitte, geht's zum Kunstmarkt? Die Graffiti-Künstler DARE und TOAST in der neuen Galerie Absolutekunst, Regioartline, 26.09.2008 (PDF)
2008 Buchstaben als Spiegel des Selbst, Leipziger-Volkszeitung, 26.02.2008 (PDF)
2007 Die Sprayboys, AD Architectural Digest. Die Schönsten Häuser der Welt, September 2007 (PDF)
2003 Atalier: Beliebt von LA bis Neuseeland, 20 Minuten, 14.10.2003 (PDF)
1995 TOAST, Backspin, Ausgabe 3, 1995 (PDF)
1992 Die besten Sprayer der Schweiz, Schweizer Illustrierte, 1992 (PDF)