This thesis examines Thomas Hirschhorn’s Cavemanman (2002/2006/2022) as a critical exploration of materiality, existential inquiry, and non-hierarchical space within contemporary art. Constructed from excessive, everyday materials, Cavemanman adopts the form of a cave system to confront entrenched philosophical, artistic, and social structures, intentionally positioning itself within the museum, a site historically contested across art history and philosophy, in a humorous way. Through close visual analysis, artist writings, interviews, and theoretical frameworks, this project situates Cavemanman as a paradoxical work—operating simultaneously as refuge and confinement, monument and anti-monument, exhibition and resistance. Hirschhorn’s deployment of low-value materials challenges social hierarchies, institutional neutrality, and canonical notions of artistic permanence, all while foregrounding labor, contradiction, and excess as tools of engagement. Ultimately, Cavemanman emerges as a visual nexus within Hirschhorn’s practice, embodying his commitment to equality, philosophical reckoning, and the transformative potential of art grounded in the precarious and material conditions of contemporary life.
Rachel McKenna Gooch (Fri,) studied this question.