Richard Hoeck

Richard Hoeck (born 1965 in Hall) is an Austrian conceptual artist based in Vienna.

From 1983 to 1990, Hoeck studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under Ernst Caramelle and Oswald Oberhuber.^[1] He received the MoMA PS1 Scholarship in New York City (1993–1994)^[2] and the MAK Schindler Scholarship in Los Angeles (2001–2002).^[3] In 2000, he was awarded the Blinky Palermo Scholarship by the Free State of Saxony and presented the exhibition The Additional Bedroom at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig.^[4]

Hoeck has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including shows at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (mumok) in Vienna,^[5] the 3rd Istanbul Biennial,^[6] the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo,^[7] and the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, Texas.^[8]

In 2021, Hoeck contributed to the ORF/BR television film Der weiße Kobold, directed by Marvin Kren. Alongside artists Martin Grandits and Christian Anwander, he was commissioned to create original artworks for the production, which explores Vienna’s contemporary art scene in a comedic setting.^[9]

Hoeck’s conceptual practice spans installation, sculpture, performance, photography, and video. His work often operates at the intersection of stage design, socio-critical commentary, and the construction of alternative infrastructures.^[10] His works are part of several public and private collections, including the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (mumok) in Vienna and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.^[11] In his ongoing collaborations with American artist John Miller, Hoeck frequently uses mannequins to interrogate the concept of subjectivity. Positioned within staged environments derived from pop culture and digital spaces, these works explore perceptions of social conditions and visual iconography. The monograph More Alive Than Those Who Made Them (University of Chicago Press / WhiteWalls, 2015) documents this collaborative series.^[10] His recent collaboration with John Miller titled Last Words (2023–2024), exhibited at Magazin 4 in Bregenz, explores themes of entropy, mortality and dismemberment through the lens of film and sculptural installation. The project received critical attention in the Austrian art journal Kultur und Gesellschaft.^[12] Hoeck's work was included in the exhibition *Ins dunkle schwimmen*, curated by the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2023). The group show focused on perception, hallucination, and inner images.^[13][14] Hoeck’s contribution reflects his continued interest in “the intersection of physical presence and virtual absence” and connects bodily fragments to “processes of inner projection”.^[14] Hoeck presented the performance Paris ReFake Sieben Säulen (2016) at Zier Haus, Vienna, as a conceptual response to Franz West’s original performance with Sieben Säulen from 1990. The reinterpretation was executed in the spirit of a “fake” and included references to Samuel Beckett and Constantin Brâncuși’s modular sculpture columns.^[15] In the object-based work series Swarovski Brass Knuckles, Hoeck modified commercially available brass knuckles by setting them with Swarovski crystals, transforming them into display objects that juxtapose ornamental aesthetics with the form of a weapon. According to the artist, the crystals were provided by Swarovski CEO free of charge, Swarovski reportedly purchased several of the finished pieces afterwards.^[16] A comprehensive portrait published in Spike Art Quarterly, analyzed Hoeck’s critical engagement with American popular myths. His videos and installations deconstruct stereotypical narratives while simultaneously reflecting on the desires of Western consumer societies. The article particularly emphasized his collaboration with John Miller and the ironic inversion of gender roles and representations.^[17]

• Last Words (2023/2024)^[18]
• Apparatus (2015/2023)^[19]
• Paradigmatic Pose of the Arc de Sercle (2021)^[20]
• Debris #1 (2020)^[21]
• You Turn Me On Death Man (2017)^[22]
• Paris ReFake Sieben Säulen (2016)^[15]
• Mannequin Death (2015)^[23]
• Swarovski Brass Knuckles (2009)^[16]
• Camouflage on a Mannequin (2008)^[24]
• Hard Hat (1999)^[25]
• Untitled (Porch) (1996)^[26]

• Last Words (with John Miller), Magazin 4, Bregenz, Austria (2023/2024)^[27]
• Toxic (with John Miller & Peter Friedl), Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, Austria (2023)^[28]
• Houston, Sie haben ein Problem! (with Paul Renner), Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, USA (2022)^[29]
• Autohaus St. Marx, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna (2021)^[30]
• Window Shopping, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna (2020)^[31]
• The Ecstasy of Becoming Trash, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Vienna (2020)^[32]
• Strange Attractors: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art, Reding Fine Art, Los Angeles (2017)^[33]
• Something for Everyone (with John Miller), Meliksetian Briggs, Los Angeles (2013)^[34]

• More Alive Than Those Who Made Them: John Miller & Richard Hoeck, 2015, WhiteWalls Inc. ISBN 978-0945323266

• White Studies: Richard Hoeck & John Miller. Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 1998 with texts by Gerald Matt, Lucas Gehrmann, and Andreas Spiegl.

• Official website
• Richard Hoeck in der ISNI-Datenbank
• Artist profile at Contemporary Art Library, Los Angeles
• Artist profile at Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck
• Artist profile at Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles and Dallas
• Artist profile at Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien

• Installation view: “Arch of Hysteria, Between Madness and Ecstasy”, 2023. Photo: MdM Salzburg
• Source image: Paradigmatic Pose of the Arc de Sercle