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German-American artist Hans Breder is celebrated as an artist and educator whose expanded conceptualization both disciplines led to the historically significant Intermedia program at the University of Iowa. Born in 1935 in Herford, Germany, Breder studied painting at Hamburg’s University of Fine Arts and, in 1964, received a scholarship to study art in New York City, where he became an assistant to George Rickey.

While the minimalist sculptures that Breder was creating in New York were beginning to receive attention, Breder’s friend Ulfert Wilke, then director at the University of Iowa Museum of Art, recommended him for a faculty position in the art department. In 1966, Breder joined the university to offer a course in experimental drawing, and would go on to teach at the university until his retirement in 2000.

Shortly after joining the University of Iowa, Breder proposed the establishment of the Intermedia Program within the School of Art and Art History. The program, which was meant to center around the artist moreso than the art object, was formally approved in 1968. As Breder himself described it, “My program conceived of intermedia not as interdisciplinary fusing of different fields into one, but as a constant collision of concepts and disciplines. It was performance-oriented, and video was an inherent aspect. Although initially used in a documentary mode, video almost immediately became an integral aspect of many student performances and was soon used as a medium in its own right." Notable artists who received Intermedia degrees include Ana Mendieta, Karen Gunderson, and Charles Ray. Indeed, Breder and Mendieta maintained a ten-year romantic relationship and together created the notable Ventosa series of photographs.

Breder’s work was featured in three Whitney Biennials, in 1987, 1989, and 1991, and he is included in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.