Born in Cologne, Germany in 1936, artist Hans Haacke has been living in New York since 1965. He has exhibited widely, including in four editions of documenta; biennials in Venice, São Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Gwangju, and Sharjah; and the Whitney Biennial. From 1967 to 2002 taught at the Cooper Union, New York. He is a member of the Gulf Labor Coalition’s core committee.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Campaign
Flood a gallery, embalm an animal, smash an object—critics hail such gestures as having the power to “shape worlds.” But when artists demand fair conditions for workers building western museums in Abu Dhabi—as the Gulf Labor Coalition has done—this work becomes illegible to the same museum.