Bio
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Koen Hauser (1972, NL) is an artist who studied social psychology at the University of Leiden and
photography at the Royal Academy of Art and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2002).
Alongside his artistic practice, Hauser has been active in applied photography and education, teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Willem de Kooning Academy, and at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague.
Hauser’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as FOAM, Institut Néerlandais, and the He Xiang Ning Art Museum, and is held in public and private collections including Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the Houston Center for Photography.
Koen Hauser (1972, NL) is an artist who studied social psychology at the University of Leiden and photography at the Royal Academy of Art and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (2002).
Alongside his artistic practice, Hauser has been active in applied photography and education, teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Willem de Kooning Academy, and at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague.
Hauser’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as FOAM, Institut Néerlandais, and the He Xiang Ning Art Museum, and is held in public and private collections including Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the Houston Center for Photography.
About
The artistic practice of Koen Hauser revolves around the transformation of images. His works originate from historical images drawn from his archive of photographic reproductions sourced from old books. He approaches these images not as fixed representations of reality, but as living matter capable of shifting, accumulating meaning and taking on new forms. Through acts of editing, visual reconfiguration and material translation, these images are set in motion. Displaced from their original contexts, they are rearticulated in tactile and affective forms that render psychological processes and philosophical notions tangible. This process unfolds across photography, sculpture, installation, video and publications.
His practice draws on a background in social psychology, years of experience in applied and fashion photography, and his role as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Art. It reflects a lifelong fascination with the image as both subject and material, explored through the lenses of psychology, photography and philosophy.
Personal experiences of isolation, loss and alienation quietly inform this practice. Rather than appearing as autobiography, they have shaped a sensitivity to what is overlooked, distorted, misunderstood or difficult to articulate, and to the capacity of images to transform vulnerability and suffering into new forms of presence and meaning.
Hauser conceives his practice as a mythology of perception, an evolving world in which images give rise to forms, entities and imagined realities. Through this mythology, he explores the possibility that perception does not merely shape our understanding of reality, but also participates in its formation.
The artistic practice of Koen Hauser revolves around the transformation of images. His works originate from historical images drawn from his archive of photographic reproductions sourced from old books. He approaches these images not as fixed representations of reality, but as living matter capable of shifting, accumulating meaning and taking on new forms. Through acts of editing, visual reconfiguration and material translation, these images are set in motion. Displaced from their original contexts, they are rearticulated in tactile and affective forms that render psychological processes and philosophical notions tangible. This process unfolds across photography, sculpture, installation, video and publications.
His practice draws on a background in social psychology, years of experience in applied and fashion photography, and his role as a teacher at the Royal Academy of Art. It reflects a lifelong fascination with the image as both subject and material, explored through the lenses of psychology, photography and philosophy.
Personal experiences of isolation, loss and alienation quietly inform this practice. Rather than appearing as autobiography, they have shaped a sensitivity to what is overlooked, distorted, misunderstood or difficult to articulate, and to the capacity of images to transform vulnerability and suffering into new forms of presence and meaning.
Hauser conceives his practice as a mythology of perception, an evolving world in which images give rise to forms, entities and imagined realities. Through this mythology, he explores the possibility that perception does not merely shape our understanding of reality, but also participates in its formation.
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Read
In conversation with...︎︎︎
The Artist as Creator︎︎︎
Listen
Kunst is Lang︎︎︎
Recent Exhibitions
Aurora Pavilion - Leiden Art Hub
Refresh #3 - Amsterdam Museum
Planten en Planeten - Oude Sterrewacht
Mannen - Fotomuseum Den Haag
Paleis der Fotografische Sculpturen - Museum Hilversum
Echo’s of Presence - 38cc Delft
CV
pdf selected cv︎︎︎
︎ email︎︎︎
︎ Instagram︎
︎ Linked in︎︎︎
︎ newsletter︎︎︎
Read
In conversation with...︎︎︎
The Artist as Creator︎︎︎
Listen
Kunst is Lang︎︎︎
Recent Exhibitions
Aurora Pavilion - Leiden Art Hub
Refresh #3 - Amsterdam Museum
Planten en Planeten - Oude Sterrewacht
Mannen - Fotomuseum Den Haag
Paleis der Fotografische Sculpturen - Museum Hilversum
Echo’s of Presence - 38cc Delft
CV
pdf selected cv︎︎︎