Short Bio

Thomas Hirschhorn was born in 1957 in Bern (Switzerland). He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich from 1978 to 1983 before moving to Paris in 1983 where he has been living since. His works are shown worldwide in museums, galleries and exhibitions among which the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2015), Documenta11 (2002), the 27th Sao Paolo Biennale (2006), 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburg (2008), the Swiss Pavillion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), La Triennale at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012), 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012), Manifesta 10 at Saint-Petersburg (2014), South London Gallery (2015), The National Gallery of Kosovo (2018), MoMa PS1 (2019), MAAXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2021), “​Masterful Attention Seekers”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan (2024).

His recent solo exhibitions are “Fake It, Fake It, Till you Fake It” in New-York at Gladstone Gallery (2024), “LAST CHANCE: What can we learn from History of Art, for today’s understanding?” at Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris (2024), and “Laboratoire des Monuments tombés” à l’Artothèque, Caen (2025). “My Atlas # Our Atlas” Museo Helga de Alvear, Caceres, Spain (2026), “Pavillon Simone Weil”, Fondation Pavillon Sicli, Genève, Suisse (2026).

With each exhibition, in a museum, gallery or alternative space, Thomas Hirschhorn asserts his commitment toward a non-exclusive audience, testified by numerous projects in public space (more than 78 works until now), as most recently “Sense of Safety. Exhibition​”, at Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, Ukraine (2024) and “Art Shelter”, Art-Station- Dubulti, Jurmala, Riga, Latvia (2022). Furthermore, his ‘Presence and Production’ projects made with local cooperations show this dedication: “Robert Walser-Sculpture”, Biel, 2019, “What I can learn from you. What you can learn from me (Critical Workshop)”, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, 2018, “Flamme éternelle” at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2014, the “Gramsci Monument” in the Bronx, New York, 2013, the “Bijlmer Spinoza Festival”, Amsterdam, 2009, and the “Musée Précaire Albinet” in Aubervilliers in 2004.

Selections of his writings were published by The MIT Press (October Books): “Critical Laboratory: The Writings of Thomas Hirschhorn” (2013) and by Macula: “Une volonté de faire, Thomas Hirschhorn”, collection Les in-disciplinés-e-s (2015), and “Thomas Hirchhorn, Quand les faibles se prennent pour des forts”, Macula (2024). La Fábrica, Madrid / Bombas Gens Centre d’Art, Valencia published the artist book “V.C.R.T.” in 2022.

Thomas Hirschhorn has received awards and prizes, among which “Preis für Junge Schweizer Kunst” (1999), “Prix Marcel Duchamp” (2000), “Rolandpreis für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum” (2003), “Joseph Beuys-Preis” (2004), the “Kurt Schwitters-Preis” (2011) and the Prix Meret Oppenheim (2018).