Thomas Hirschhorn

Thomas Hirschhorn (born in Bern, May 16 1957) is a Swiss artist.

Life and works

In the 1980s he worked in Paris as a graphic artist. He was part of the group of Communist graphic designers called Grapus. These artists were concerned with politics and culture, displaying impromptu creations and posters on the street mostly using the language of advertisement. He left Grapus to create the hypersaturated installations he is known for today, using common materials such as cardboard, foil, duct tape, and plastic wrap. These installations are often site specific and outside the gallery, and/or interactive. Unlike much total installation work, the viewer is an observer not an actor in the spaces he creates because of the way he continues to offer messages in his work as he did with Grapus. Austrian author and Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek takes issue with the artist's views on Marxism. In a 2008 interview the artist said that he was not aware of her concerns. [cite web |url = http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=8060 |title = You can love both Nietzsche and Hello Kitty: Artist interview: Thomas Hirschhorn |date = 2008-06-27 |accessdate=2008-06-28 |work = The Art Newspaper |last = Clintberg |first = Mark]

For his piece "Cavemanman", he transformed a gallery space into a cave using wood, cardboard, and tape and put various philosophical and pop culture symbols throughout it.cite news|last = Kimmelman | first = Michael|authorlink = Michael Kimmelman| title = ART IN REVIEW; Thomas Hirschhorn -- 'Cavemanman' |date = 2002-11-15 |accessdate=2008-08-19 |url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E6D61430F936A25752C1A9649C8B63&fta=y |work = New York Times]

He received the (2000/2001) Marcel Duchamp Prize and the Joseph Beuys Prize in 2004. His works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, [ [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A8276&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1 moma.org] ] the Walker Art Center, [ [http://collections.walkerart.org/item/agent/1955 collections.walkerart.org] ] and the Tate. [ [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=6254 tate.org.uk] ]

Quotes

"I'm interested in the 'too much,' doing too much, giving too much, putting too much of an effort into something. Wastefulness as a tool or weapon."

"I do not want to invite or oblige viewers to become interactive with what I do; I do not want to activate the public. I want to give of myself to such a degree that viewers confronted with the work can take part and become involved, but not as actors."

"This is something essential to art: reception is never its goal. What counts for me is that my work provides material to reflect upon. Reflection is an activity."

References

External links

* 2008 "Life on Mars," the 2008 "Carnegie International" [http://blog.cmoa.org/CI08/2008/02/thomas-hirschhorn.php]
* Haidu, Rachel, [http://virose.pt/vector/x_04/haidu.html# "The imaginary space of the wishful other: Thomas Hirschhorn’s Cardboard Utopias." "Vector e-zine", January 2006.]