VITA
Hans Peter Riegel was born in Düsseldorf. He comes from an art-interested family, studied visual communication, photography, film and art sciences at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences and, in partial studies, philosophy at the University of Düsseldorf.
In 1973, through the arrangement of his art teacher Wilfrid Polke, Sigmar Polke's older brother, he first encountered Joseph Beuys.
In 1975 he met the Beuys student Jörg Immendorff in connection with a school politics project. They became friends, and after a stage design internship at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, Riegel was Immendorff's assistant from 1979 to 1984. These years also saw numerous encounters with Beuys.
He became Immendorff's photographic and cinematic documentarian as well as a partner in projects and publications. Among others FF bringts, Cafe D. gut, Weltfrage - Video und Edition, 38.- ,39.-, 40. Parteitag, La Paloma - Kapelle am Wegesrand.
Early on, he exhibited paintings, but then turned to photography and video, and later to the new, digital media. In particular, he was interested in applied art, which is why he turned to advertising.
After graduation and an extended stay in New York, Riegel began an advertising career in 1984 as the youngest art director and copywriter at the legendary agency GGK Düsseldorf.
Later, Riegel managed advertising agencies of the BBDO and Publicis groups as creative director, managing director and partner. He has received numerous international awards for his design work, was a member of the jury at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and is member of the Art Directors Club of Switzerland.
1992, he developed and designed «The Garden» in Düsseldorf, the first multimedia event center in Germany, where web, live TV and telecommunications could be experienced.
1995, he finally left the advertising industry, founded Riverside, as an investment and consulting company. As strategy consultant and business partner he developed pioneering projects in the fields of culture production, live entertainment and new media especially in cooperation with the media company Bertelsmann until 2002.
From 2003 to 2008 he used the pseudonym SIS.TM. He carried out a conceptual art project that critically examined the socialization of individuals on the Internet, primarily in video works and is one of the first artists worldwide to deal with the medium of the Internet and its social influences.
In 2008 he published texts from the SIS.TM project under the title FLICKERING SUBJECTS.
After this project, he intensified his work as a writer and art scholar.
In 2010, IMMENDORFF - THE BIOGRAPHY was published.
In 2013, the first edition of BEUYS - DIE BIOGRAPHIE was published.
In 2018, the expanded new edition of BEUYS - DIE BIOGRAPHIE was published with volumes 2 and 3.
In 2018, the expanded new edition of IMMENDORFF - DIE BIOGRAPHIE was published.
In 2019, Riegel published the text collection ÜBER KUNST.
2021 BEUYS - DIE BIOGRAPHIE Volume 4 will be published.
The Beuys biography, so far comprising some 1500 pages, attracted worldwide interest and became one of the most frequently discussed publications of its kind in German-language literature. Today it is considered the standard work on Beuys.
In 2016, with a budget of only 30,000 Swiss francs, he realized the essayistic documentary film MEL. DAS ANDERE LEBEN, which celebrated its cinema premiere in February 2017.
The film received extremely positive reviews.
In 2017, he directed the experimental feature film DRIFTED, for which, as in the case of MEL, he also wrote the screenplay and composed the music. DRIFTED is the first feature-length film in Europe shot exclusively with smartphones. It has been released on streaming platforms.
In 2018, Riegel founded a publishing company that works digitally. He also writes about art topics for renowned titles.
In 2020, he initiated and curated the international festival for digital art in Zurich, DA Z DIGITAL ART ZURICH, which featured some forty top-notch artists from around the world. DA Z will take place again in the fall of 2021.
His own artistic works have been exhibited many times and are in various collections. He continues to work as a media artist.
Simultaneously with his work as author, artist and curator, Hans Peter Riegel is creative director and partner of riverside, a company active in the fields of strategic consulting, culture, communication and media production. Here he deals with the development and realization of cultural projects as well as the exchange between social groups with the help of cultural platforms and digital media. In these contexts, he also advises companies and institutions.
Hans Peter Riegel lives in Zurich.
A very personal conversation:
SWR2 Contemporaries
"I owe Beuys the indispensable will to make a difference."