ART-HIL-GRE
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Gregor Hildebrandt
Material Presence
Material as Memory
ART-HIL-GRE
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Material as Memory
Gregor Hildebrandt
ART-HIL-GRE
Material as Memory
Index Code:
ART-HIL-GRE
Orgin:
Germany
Field Notes:
material transfer · repetition as index · surface records time
Defining Moment:
Early 2000s — magnetic tape and vinyl become primary materials, establishing sound as a surface condition rather than a referent.

Gregor Hildebrandt

( 
b. 1974
 )
greg-or hill-duh-brant

Gregor Hildebrandt builds a world through transfer rather than depiction.

His work uses music, tape, and residue as structural devices, allowing memory to register through material contact rather than representation.

How does sound become structure here?
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In Gregor Hildebrandt's work, sound is traditionally understood as immaterial and temporal; here it operates structurally through material transfer. Magnetic tape, vinyl, and recorded media are not referenced but physically impressed onto surface, turning sound into a spatial condition.

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Meaning does not emerge through image or narrative.

It accumulates through residue, repetition, and erosion.

What is heard elsewhere appears here as absence — a trace held in material rather than memory.

Surface functions as record. Structure is sustained through loss rather than accumulation.

Position

Material as Condition

Material behavior determines outcome more than composition or image. Gravity, density, texture, or resistance guide form.

In Gregor Hildebrandt’s work, surface operates as a recording system where material transfer registers time, repetition, and memory.
Material Intelligence
Material behavior actively determines structural decisions.
Systems of Clarity
Order and coherence arise through disciplined systems and constraints.
Material
Material behavior governs form through weight, resistance, and constraint.
Structure
Structure holds the work through rules, joins, and controlled relationships between parts.
Art
Form operates as a site for material, perceptual, and conceptual inquiry.
Image Credits
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1. Artist in studio. Photograph by Ana Santl. © Ana Santl.

2. Artist in studio. Photograph by Ana Santl. © Ana Santl.

3. Artist in studio. Photograph by Ana Santl. © Ana Santl.

4. Exhibition view: Gregor Hildebrandt – Luft in allen Zimmern, 16 October 2020 – 16 May 2021. Courtesy G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig.

5. Installation view: Gregor Hildebrandt, 12 January – 25 February 2017, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France. © Almine Rech.

6. Installation view: Gregor Hildebrandt, 12 January – 25 February 2017, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France. © Almine Rech.

7. Gregor Hildebrandt. View of the exhibition “Luft in allen Zimmern – Gregor Hildebrandt,” G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, Germany, 2020. Courtesy G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig.

8. Gregor Hildebrandt, Burning from the Inside, 2017. Inkjet print and plastic boxes in wooden case, 319 × 297 × 9 cm (125 5/8 × 116 7/8 × 3 1/2 inches). © Gregor Hildebrandt.

9. Installation view: Gregor Hildebrandt, 12 January – 25 February 2017, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France. © Almine Rech.

10. Gregor Hildebrandt, Dort wo die Linien sich verwirren, 2016. Magnetic VHS tape coating, adhesive tape, and acrylic on canvas, 229 × 192 cm (90 1/8 × 75 5/8 inches). © Gregor Hildebrandt.

11. Installation view: Gregor Hildebrandt, 12 January – 25 February 2017, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France. © Almine Rech.

12. Gregor Hildebrandt, schwarze Kassettenschallplatte mit gelbem Rädchen, 2016. Cassette tape and cassette reel on wood with plexi cover, 92 × 92 cm (36 1/4 × 36 1/4 inches). © Gregor Hildebrandt.

13. Gregor Hildebrandt, Die Wendeltreppe, 2017. Cut vinyl records, fabric, and metal, 213 × 27.5 × 27.5 cm (83 7/8 × 10 7/8 × 10 7/8 inches). © Gregor Hildebrandt.

14. Gregor Hildebrandt, Konzentrische Wellen, 2017. Cut records and canvas on wood, 249 × 174 × 4 cm (98 × 68 1/2 × 1 5/8 inches). © Gregor Hildebrandt.

15. G2 #19: Luft in allen Zimmern, Gregor Hildebrandt, 16 October 2020 – 17 January 2021 (extended until 16 May 2021). Courtesy G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig.

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Cover: Installation view: Gregor Hildebrandt, 12 January – 25 February 2017, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France. © Almine Rech.

Portrait: Portrait of Gregor Hildebrandt. Photograph by Peter Rigaud. © Peter Rigaud.

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All images © their respective rights holders.  
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Structual Relations
The following practices are connected through shared structural decisions in form, material, and spatial logic.

By Structural Focus

ⓘ
How are these related?
Quiet Modernism relates practices through how form is organized rather than how it appears. Connections emerge through shared structural conditions — such as repetition, constraint, spatial organization, material behavior, or duration — even when outcomes differ.

A single grouping may reflect multiple overlapping structural concerns.
Roni Horn
identity as structure
Carlo Scarpa
Surface acting as spatial structure

In Dialogue

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