Conceptual artist Hans Haacke was born on August 12, 1936, in Cologne, Germany. After graduating from the Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts, he traveled to the United States on the Fulbright Program, an American international exchange program, and furthered his studies at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. After graduating, Haacke began to create works that explored nature and the environment. In the 1960s, he produced works such as "Grass Grows," in which seeds are planted in soil, and "Condensation," in which air is trapped in clear plastic containers. In 1967, he became a professor at Cooper Union in New York. In 1971, Haacke exhibited "Shapolsky Manhattan Real Estate Holdings: A Real-Time Social System as of May 1, 1971" in a solo exhibition scheduled for the Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition uncovered real estate fraud by the museum's director, Harry Shaporowsky, through photographs and transaction records of Manhattan properties. However, the exhibition was ultimately canceled, and the curator who supported him was fired from the museum.

Haacke subsequently produced numerous works with anti-capitalist themes. In 1978, he exhibited "A Breed Apart," a work criticizing companies that supported apartheid, at a solo exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. In 1988, he displayed a portrait of former Prime Minister Thatcher at a London exhibition alongside the founder of Saatchi & Saatchi, who ran her election campaign, thereby revealing the relationship between the two. In 1993, he exhibited "Germania" at the Venice Biennale, a festival of contemporary art. For this installation, Haacke displayed a photo of Hitler and a mark currency at the entrance to the building and smashed the floor inside, winning him the Golden Lion (prize for excellence).

Also, in 2000, he was commissioned to create "DER BEVOLKERUNG: To the Residents" in connection with the restoration of the German Bundestag. For this work, Haacke installed a plaque in the courtyard bearing the words "DER BEVOLKERUNG," which stands for "To the German People." He sought to create a relationship between residents and members of parliament by having elected members of parliament place soil from their constituency around the plaque.