Hans Haacke

Throughout his career, Hans Haacke has explored the social, political and economic conditions of making, funding, exhibiting and collecting art. When Haacke curated his own legendary "Viewing Matters" exhibit at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, he brought into focus the often concealed relationship between commerce and high art in a complex installation that included hundreds of pieces of art, merchandising from the museum store and portraits of the previous directors of the museum. In this publication, the artist explores both the dialects of the art exhibition and the socio-economic role of the museum in contemporary society.