Thomas Hirschhorn

He started developing work in space, using common materials such as cardboard, wood, foil, tape, among others. He has described his decision to use everyday materials as “political”: these materials “don’t intimidate, they are universal, economic, inclusive, and don’t bear any plus-value”. For his work Cavemanman (2002) he transformed the gallery space into a cave using wood, cardboard, tape, neon tubes, books. Hirschhorn has followed his early commitment to always include the Other and address what he calls the “non-exclusive audience” in presenting his work in exhibition spaces such as museums and galleries, but also in “public space”: urban settings, sidewalks, vacant lots, and communal grounds of public housing projects.

Hirschhorn's works are held in collections worldwide, among which the Art Institute of Chicago; Centro de Arte Contemporanea Inhotim, Bela Horizonte; Collection Jumex Mexico; Dia Art Foundation, New York; K21 Düsseldorf; Kunsthalle Mannheim; Musée d’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, MoMA New York, ; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munchen;  Tate Modern, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Hirschhorn has created over seventy works in public space questioning the autonomy, the authorship and resistance of a work of art, asserting art as a tool that has the power to touch and transform the other. “I want to use art as a tool to establish a contact with the Other - this is a necessity - and I am convinced that the only possible contact with the Other happens “One to One”, as equal.” Through his experience of working in public space, Hirschhorn has developed his own guidelines of “Presence and Production” in being present and producing on location during the full course of a project in public space. “To be ‘present’ and to ‘produce’ means to make a physical statement, here and now. I believe that only through presence—my presence —and only through production —my production— can my work have an impact in public space or at a public location.” Other major ‘Presence and Production’ projects besides the Bataille-Monument and Gramsci-Monument include Musée Précaire Albinet (Aubervilliers, France, 2004), The Bijlmer Spinoza Festival (Amsterdam, 2009), Flamme éternelle (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2014), What I can learn from you. What you can learn from me (Critical Workshop) (Remai Modern, Saskatoon 2018), and the Robert Walser-Sculpture (Fondation Exposition Suisse de Sculpture, Biel, Switzerland, 2019).

- Une volonté de faire, Thomas Hirschhorn Macula, collection Les in-disciplinés-e-s, 2015.

- Critical Laboratory: The Writings of Thomas Hirschhorn, MIT Press (October Books), 2013.

Thomas Hirschhorn has dedicated works to writers, philosophers, artists he loves, in the form of altars, kiosks, maps, monuments or sculptures. In 1999 he initiated a series of “monuments” dedicated to major writers and thinkers: the Spinoza Monument (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1999), followed by Deleuze Monument (Avignon, France, 2000) and Bataille Monument (Kassel, Germany, 2002). The Gramsci Monument (The Bronx, New York, 2013) was the fourth and last monument, tribute to the Italian political theorist and Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937). These works are based on Hirschhorn's will “to establish a definition of monument,’ to provoke encounters, to create an event. [...] My love for Antonio Gramsci is the love of philosophy, the love of the infinitude of thought. It is a question of sharing this, affirming it, defending it, and giving it form.”

Hirschhorn has received the Preis für Junge Schweizer Kunst (1999), Marcel Duchamp Prize (2000), Rolandpreis für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (2003), Joseph Beuys Prize (2004), Kurt Schwitters Prize (2011) and the Meret Oppenheim Prize (2018).  In June 2011, Hirschhorn represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale.

Hirschhorn has become internationally renowned for his critically engaged and humanistic aesthetic. Since his first solo show in 1986 (Bar Floréal, Paris), Hirschhorn received much critical attention and has had solo exhibitions at international venues, including the Art Institute of Chicago (1998); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1998); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2001); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2005); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2005); Secession, Vienna (2008); Kunsthalle, Bern (2008) ; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2008); Inhotim Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2011); The Power Plant, Toronto (2011); Kunsthalle Mannheim (2011); Dia Art Foundation, New York (2012 and 2013); South London Gallery, London (2015); Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2018); Remai Modern, Saskatoon (2018). He has participated in many group exhibitions, among which Skulptur Projekte in Münster (1997); 48 Venice Biennale (1999) and Swiss Pavilion at 54 Venice Biennale (2011); Documenta 11 in Kassel (2002); São Paulo Biennale (2006); Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2008); 8th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2010); 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012); La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); Manifesta10, Saint-Petersburg, Russia (2014); MoMA PS1 (2011 and 2019).

Thomas Hirschhorn studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich from 1978 to 1983. In 1983 he came to Paris with the will to take part in the 'Grapus'- collective as graphic designer because he was impressed by their graphic work that was also politically engaged. Although he and the Grapus team were good friends, working with them was not what he wanted to do. He didn't want to work for clients but for his own. During the long years that followed, he developed his own visual research based on the principle of collage. In the beginning, he claimed these as 'graphic design coming from myself,’ but was not more successful until he decided to clearly position his collage-work in the field of art and history of art. Collages have been an important part of his work even since.

Thomas Hirschhorn (born 16 May 1957 in Bern) is a Swiss artist. He lives and works in Paris.