Gregor Hildebrandt

Gregor Hildebrandt (b. 1974, Bad Homburg, Germany) lives and works in Berlin and has been Professor of Painting and Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich since 2015.

Gregor Hildebrandt has developed a distinctive artistic language centred on analogue recording media. Cassette tape and vinyl records form the basis of works that preserve the physical traces of sound while remaining resolutely silent. Removed from their original function, these materials are transformed into compositions of remarkable formal restraint, revealing the enduring emotional and cultural resonance of analogue technologies.

Music lies at the heart of Hildebrandt's practice. Many works incorporate the recording of a single song, which survives only as a concealed presence within the material and through the title of the work itself. Rather than illustrating music, Hildebrandt translates it into a visual language, most notably through his characteristic transfer process, in which magnetic particles from cassette tape are rubbed onto adhesive-coated canvas, leaving behind delicate monochromatic surfaces.

Alongside his paintings, Hildebrandt creates immersive installations using stacked vinyl records and unwound cassette tape, subtly redefining the architecture of the exhibition space. Oscillating between conceptual precision and a quiet lyricism, his work reflects on the persistence of analogue media within contemporary visual culture.

His work has been presented in numerous international institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Berlinische Galerie, mumok, Kunsthalle Praha and Saarlandmuseum. In 2016, he received the Falkenrot Prize from Künstlerhaus Bethanien.