Born in Switzerland and based in Paris, Hirschhorn is among the most significant artists to emerge internationally in the 1990s. As an artist, he relentlessly explores the relationship between contemporary art and politics. He resists being a commentator or a traditional activist in favour of a highly principled, personal politics: “Where do I stand? Where does the other stand? What do I want? What does the other want?”

Black & White Hemisphere was conceived by Hirschhorn for a travelling exhibition, German Angst, in which filmmakers, writers and artists were invited to respond to the ‘normalisation’ of Germany’s history after its reunification of 1990. The parallels with South Africa, which achieved its own ‘reunification’ in 1994, are abundant, and because the sculpture eschews German subject matter in favour of universal issues of inequality and divisions among people, its changing context enriches rather than displaces the work.

For more information about the FOREX project series, click here.

Hirshhorn will exhibit concurrently with Steven Cohen and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.