Hans Haacke is an influential German-born American Conceptual artist whose work critiques social and political systems, especially those found in the art world. Working across painting, installation, and photography, he tackles the influence of corporate interests on contemporary art. Haacke often uses institutions both as subject matter and as a venue, which has at times caused controversy—most notably as seen in his proposed 1974 solo show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The notorious exhibition, titled “Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Board of Trustees,” would have mounted an index of the museum’s corporate sponsors and board of trustees to the walls of the museum, but was cancelled six weeks before its opening, and its curator Edward Fry was fired. Born on August 12, 1936 in Cologne, Germany, Haacke first studied at the Staatliche Werkakademie in Kassel, then at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia funded by a Fulbright Grant in 1961–1962. Today, his works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery in London among others. Haacke lives and works in New York, NY.