Thomas Hirschhorn is a Swiss visual artist born in Bern in 1957 and based in Paris since 1983. After studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, he developed a practice built from everyday, inexpensive materials such as cardboard, tape, foil, photocopies and printed matter. His installations, monuments and public-space projects create dense environments in which images, texts and objects collide. Rather than polishing these materials into stable forms, Hirschhorn uses their fragility and excess to make the conditions of production, display and participation visible.
His work addresses philosophy, politics, conflict and the circulation of images, while insisting on what he calls a non-exclusive audience. Long-duration projects such as the Gramsci Monument, Flamme éternelle and the Pavillon Simone Weil combine sculpture with daily presence, workshops, conversations and collective production. Hirschhorn represented Switzerland at the 2011 Venice Biennale and has presented projects at Documenta 11, MoMA PS1, Palais de Tokyo and institutions across Europe. In 2026, his solo exhibitions include My Atlas in Chur and EX-VOTO-TOMBOLA in Naples.
From 12 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, the Capc in Bordeaux presents Quoi qu’il en soit, created with theatre director Fanny de Chaillé and the tnba school. Hirschhorn transforms the museum nave into a monumental ruin made from simple materials, while de Chaillé and the students occupy it with teaching, performance and public encounters. The sixty-day project turns the museum into a changing space for learning and collective thought.