CityX
Who are we? What connects you to your city?
These questions are at the heart of CityX. With this art project Doris Graf creates a unique cityscape through pictographic art, developed in direct collaboration with the people who live there.
The Process: From Intuition to Art
Inspired by the concept of “Social Urban Sculpture,” residents are invited at the beginning to take part in drawing sessions. Participants intuitively draw what defines their personal connection to the city. Artist Doris Graf then categorizes these drawings by theme and motif, translating them into a series of pictograms.
A Condensed Vision
While every single drawing in the collection is unique, a closer look reveals recurring themes and shared emotions. The final pictographic cityscape serves as a “distilled” version of the community’s collective voice.
More Than Just a Picture
With CityX, Doris Graf has established a new form of urban representation. Here, drawing is more than just a creative tool—it is a medium for communication and knowledge. The artist believes that drawing connects us all; it is a universal language that makes even complex topics accessible and playful.
From “Views” to “Insights”
While traditional art history often focuses on the external view of a city, CityX focuses on internal insights. Doris Graf treats the cityscape as a knowledge archive, revealing cognitive and emotional layers of the urban environment. It is a visual anthropology that doesn’t just depict a space, but actively negotiates it through society.
We EO
EO Connect 2025, Hamburg
Women in Mining, 2022/23
Stuttgart unter 21
Me, Bonhoeffer
Soloexhibition “Me, Bonhoeffer”, 2021 Theater an der Halle Ostfildern, Germany
Me, Quarantine
“Me, Quarantine”, 2020-2021
13th Havana Biennial, 2019, Cuba
2012 CRIO Biennial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
With Me, Rio, which Doris Graf launched in November 2012 as the official representative of Baden-Württemberg at the „Creativity World Forum“ in Rio de Janeiro, an entirely new impetus ha emerged in the artist’s work: The project participants themselves were given the task to invent symbols, that expresses their personal relationship to the city.
2010 - 2017 Art Projects
“Pikträt” Solo exhibition on the occasion of the opening of the city library on Mailänderplatz, Stuttgart, Germany, 2011