Hans Haacke (b. 1936) has shaped “political art” to a greater extent than any other artist of his generation. Keen criticism of institutions, political awareness, and an uncompromising defense of democratic principles to the point of activism all characterize his approach. His work is marked by directness and theoretical clarity, and yet it is poetic, metaphorical, ecological, and in many respects highly topical at the same time. More than once his controversial artistic contributions to contemporary discourse have been excluded from exhibitions. In a wide-ranging retrospective, the SCHIRN will be examining Haacke’s influential oeuvre from 1959 to the present day. He has pursued a variety of artistic strategies, working from an early stage in the fields of ecology and science and taking up the approaches of, for example, the group ZERO and minimal art, as well as conceptual art, art in public space, and poster art. The exhibition at the SCHIRN, with some 70 paintings, objects, photographs, and installations, demonstrates how Haacke became one of the most important political artists on the international art stage.