Biography

Koen Hauser (1972, NL) is a visual artist whose practice moves between photography, sculpture, installation and artistic research. His work explores how images shape our understanding of the world, and how their transformation can give rise to new forms of meaning, identity and physical presence.

Growing up in a family of builders and craftsmen, Hauser was surrounded by people who shaped the physical world with their hands. His own fascination developed equally towards the less tangible world of imagination, perception and human relationships. The sudden loss of his infant sister and experiences of vulnerability and alienation during adolescence deepened his sensitivity to how people perceive, categorize and relate to one another. Imagination offered a way to explore what could not always be understood or expressed in words.

This curiosity about perception and identity led him to become the first in his family to attend university, studying social psychology at Leiden University, where he focused on stereotyping and the mechanisms through which we form impressions of others. He subsequently turned to photography, studying at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, graduating in 2002.

For many years, Hauser combined his artistic endeavours with a successful career in applied and fashion photography. Moving between artistic experimentation, editorial work and collaborations with cultural institutions, he gradually developed a distinctive approach to images that brought conceptual inquiry and visual imagination into dialogue.

In 2019, Hauser decided to devote himself entirely to his autonomous artistic practice. His work has since expanded beyond photography into sculpture, installation and artistic research, bringing together his longstanding interests in perception, imagination and the material world.

Drawing on historical photographs and illustrations, he transforms existing imagery into unfamiliar forms and physical objects. In this process, images are no longer treated simply as representations of reality, but as material capable of acquiring new identities and meanings.

His current research investigates how images shape our understanding of the world, how they acquire authority, and what happens when they are released from their original purposes.

Alongside his artistic practice, Hauser has taught at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague.

His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and venues including Foam, Unseen Photo Fair, the Institut Néerlandais in Paris and the He Xiang Ning Art Museum in Shenzhen. His work is represented in public and private collections, including Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the Houston Center for Photography.