Hans Haacke

The conceptual artist Hans Haacke was born in 1936 in Cologne, Germany.

Related Topics:
Conceptual artist - 1936 - Cologne - Germany

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Haacke studied at the Staatliche Werkakademie in Kassel, Germany, from 1956 to 1960. From 1961 to 1962, he studied on a Fulbright grant at the Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University in Philadelphia.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Haacke's early work as a conceptual artist focused on systems and processes. Some of the themes in his early works from the 1960s, such as Condensation Cube(1963-65), include the interactions of physical and biological systems, living animals, plants, and the states of water and the wind. His later works have dealt more with socio-political structures and the politics of art. He has been outspoken throughout his career about his belief that museums and galleries are often used by the wealthy to seduce public opinion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of his best-known works, Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971 exposed the questionable transactions of Harry Shapolsky's real-estate business between 1951 and 1971. Haacke's 1971 one-artist show at the Guggenheim, which was to include this work, was cancelled by the museum's director six weeks prior to the opening. Haacke's 1990 controversial painting Cowboy with Cigarette turned Picasso's Man with a Hat (1912-13) into a cigarette advertisement. The work was a reaction to the Phillip Morris company's sponsorship of a 1989-90 exhibition about Cubism at the Museum of Modern Art. Hans Haacke published a book about the ideas and processes behind his and other conceptual art called Framing and Being Framed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1967 to 2002 Haacke was Professor at the Cooper Union in New York City. He has had solo exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; The Tate Gallery, London; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1993 he shared, with Nam June Paik, the Golden Lion for the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two years later Haacke, together with Pierre Bourdieu, published Free Exchange, a volume of their conversations. Haacke and Bourdieu expressed a shared interest in the relationship between art and politics.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The artist lives and works in New York.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~